Philippine conglomerates and the Duterte administration are accelerating the construction of major infrastructure projects to meet the government’s promise of Golden Age of Infrastructure despite the Covid Pandemic.
The government’s “Golden Age of Infrastructure” program aims to build more roads and bridges throughout the Philippines, with the end goal of decongesting the country, and subsequently, promoting inclusive growth and development.
The Duterte government has allocated P8 trillion to P9 trillion, or roughly $160 billion to $180 billion for its boldest infrastructure development program, called “Build, Build, Build!”
“We are on track and this golden age of infrastructure is all systems go,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said.
“We have exceeded our infrastructure investment spending goal to reach more than 5 percent of GDP [gross domestic product], founded on a robust pipeline of projects under the Build Build Build Program, and guided by strategic sectoral master plans and roadmaps,” he added.
For 2021, DPWH’s budget amounted to P695.7 billion from P581.7 billion in 2020.
Villar said that the yearly increase in infrastructure budget has generated 6.57 million jobs in four years. In 2016, 911,034 jobs were generated and this figure surged to 1,196,555 jobs in 2017; 1,714,905 in 2018; 1,226,023 in 2019; and an estimated 1,525,342 jobs will be generated from the 2020 budget.
The Philippines, according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2019, ranked 96 in the overall quality of infrastructure out of 141. The Philippines was behind Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Decongesting EDSA
One of the goals of the Duterte administration is to decongest Metro Manila through building of more alternative roads, such as expressways.
“In order to bring EDSA back to its original capacity, we need to take out about 200,000 vehicles,” Villar said.
About 380,000 vehicles use Edsa, the biggest thoroughfare in Metro Manila, daily.
Villar said Skyway Stage 3, NLEX-Connector Road, NLEX Harbor Link, the C5 Southlink Project and the Estrella Pantaleon Bridge Project would further decongest EDSA.
Last January 14, DPWH and San Miguel Corp. opened to the public the Skyway Stage 3 project that is seen to provide a major boost to the country’s post-pandemic recovery.
“Today, the President delivers on his promise to decongest EDSA. This is just one of 25 projects which we will complete under the EDSA Decongestion Program” Villar said.
“When we assumed office in 2016, the congestion level was at 71% — the second worst traffic congestion in the world. We were losing 3.5 billion a day due to traffic in Metro Manila. This will no longer be the case in 2022 due to the President’s political will,” he added.
Villar also acknowledged the concessionaire, SMC’s Citra Central Expressway Corporation for partnering with the government in realizing the vision of better Philippines through infrastructure development.
Game changer
Ramon S. Ang, president and chief operating officer of San Miguel described the Skyway Stage 3 project as a “game-changer” for the country’s economy, especially now that the Philippines is still dealing with the pandemic.
“By providing seamless access between north and south, we also unlock the true potential of our provinces,” Ang added.
With the full opening of all seven lanes of the 18-kilometer Skyway 3 from Buendia, Makati to NLEX, ang Ang said that a huge number motorists will now have an alternative to EDSA.
“At full capacity, with 7 lanes available, Skyway can easily handle 50% of Edsa traffic, or 200,000 vehicles per day. Together with the existing Skyway 1 and 2, the Skyway system now has 38 kilometers of elevated expressway with 36 on- and off-ramp access points. This will greatly contribute to decongesting Metro Manila traffic,” Ang said.
The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Project is an 18.68-km elevated expressway from Buendia, Makati City to the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak, Quezon City.
Ang committed to Duterte that SMC’s efforts to help the country and the economy, will not stop with the Skyway Stage 3 project.
“We will continue work to further decongest Metro Manila by linking east and west of the metropolis, through the Pasig River Expressway (Parex) project,” Ang said.
The Pasig River Expressway project is a 19.4-kilometer, six-lane elevated expressway along the banks of the Pasig River that will complete the north-south, east-west link, connecting R-10 in Manila, Edsa, and C5 and decongesting Rizal, Cainta, and Marikina. It will provide faster, alternative access to the business districts Makati, Ortigas, and BGC.
He said the project can be completed by 2023.
More expressways
Besides San Miguel, the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. is also helping the government to decongest traffic in Metro Manila.
Luigi L. Bautista, NLEX president and general manager said the first section of the P23.3 billion Connector Road is expected to be complete by yearend.
He said the company is using Super T beams to advance its construction progress “so we can soon complete this crucial infrastructure that would help decongest Metro Manila and solve truck ban woes,”
Villar, on the other hand, said the right-of-way delivery for the whole alignment stands at 81 percent, while construction progress is at 16 percent.
“With the commitment of both the public and private sectors, we are optimistic that we can finish the project as scheduled,” he added.
NLEX awarded to D.M. Consunji Inc. in November 2019 the P8-billion contract to build the first section of the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road.
The five kilometer section of NLEX will span from Caloocan Interchange to España Boulevard.
The remaining 3 km of the entire connector road will be completed before the end of the Duterte administration in 2022.
Spanning a total of eight kilometers, the full NLEX Connector will be an all vehicle class elevated expressway that will traverse the C3 Road in Caloocan City passing through Abad Santos, Blumentritt, Dimasalang, España, Magsaysay Boulevard and eventually connect with the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa in Manila.
The P23-billion NLEX Connector will feature four toll plazas and interchanges in C3 and España. It is seen to provide better access to Manila Ports (North Harbor) and airports (NAIA and Clark), and expected to reduce travel time between NLEX and South Luzon Expressway from two hours to just 20 minutes.
The project will also provide trucks with 24/7 alternative route, enabling unhampered delivery of goods and stimulating economic development in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and surrounding areas.
Rail and airports
The Duterte administration also vowed to provide mobility and connectivity by building new major airport and mass rail projects.
San Miguel’s Ang said his company has started the construction of the P734 billion Manila International Airport project in Bulacan province, a sustainable solution to decongesting air traffic congestion in the country.
Touted as the single-largest investment ever in the Philippines, the airport project will connect to major thoroughfares in the metropolis. It will have four-parallel runways and modern, world-class facilities.
Ang set the opening date of the massive airport project for 2025. Two major expressways connecting to the airport will also open by 2023.
The Bulacan airport project in particular, is estimated to generate 30 million direct and indirect jobs, Ang said.
San Miguel also plans to operate and maintain the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for 10 years.
Ang said that San Miguel’s proposed 10-year concession was designed to give the government a freer hand on what to do with NAIA, once the Bulacan Airport was completed and operational.
He said that with a new and much larger world-class gateway with four runways just north of Manila—easily accessible via a network of existing and new infrastructure—the government could better benefit from selling or redeveloping the NAIA property.
San Miguel’s P69.3 billion mass rail transit linking North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan is expected to be completed by early 2022.
The project is now 59.72 percent completed as of December last year.
MRT 7, a 22-km rail line, which stretches across North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, with 14 stations, will trim down travel time to only 35 minutes from the current two to three hours.
“Once operational, the rail line is expected to serve 300,000 to 850,000 passengers daily, with sufficient room for capacity augmentation to accommodate the potential increase of the rail transit’s ridership in the future,” DOTr said.
“All of these will solve our decades-long problem of land and air traffic congestion. Together, we are building the foundation for future economic growth that’s inclusive and sustainable. We are also investing in many other industries across the regions, from food and beverage production, agriculture, power security and soon, renewable energy,” Ang said.
“This is the best way we can meaningfully contribute to nation-building. We are committed to sustainably re-invest what we have, create more business opportunities, generate more jobs, and spread growth across the archipelago, ”he added.
“We have always believed that SMC can do a lot to help our country, by investing in industries and sectors that will accelerate its growth.
“We love our country, it’s the only one we have, so we should all do what we can to lift it up and help Filipinos. This pandemic has only made that commitment deeper and stronger,” Ang said.