Infrastructure, anyone?

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 27 Apr 2023 by Romeo Bernardo

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In Washington for the World Bank / IMF Spring meetings earlier this month, the country’s economic managers turned the spotlight on infrastructure opportunities in the Philippines under the Marcos administration. In a half-day briefing that focused on the economy’s macro fundamentals and investment prospects, the economic team unveiled impressive headline grabbing numbers about the size (3770 projects worth $317.5 billion) and breadth (6 to 9 sectors depending on which list) of the infrastructure program, including public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the pipeline (97 projects worth $42 billion).[1] Just like similar presentations in the early days of previous administrations, the usual comment we hear is that the latest infrastructure program looks more like a shopping list that has not taken budget constraints into account. Tagging 194 of these as “infrastructure flagship projects” appears to have done little to persuade observers that prioritization has been made. And like before, the strategy seems to be one of waving the list and letting the market pick and choose which ones are bankable and shovel-ready. Talking to experienced on-the-ground players, we gather that despite the current administration’s more welcoming attitude, it will take time to get the PPP program up and running smoothly again. The program stalled under the six years of the Duterte administration when government opted for ODA/publicly-financed infrastructure projects. Moreover, the usual issues continue to hound project selection and implementation, including: Right of way delays. This is still the major bottleneck despite the enactment of Republic Act No. 10752 in 2016. One of the major ...