Opening Remarks at the Build, Build, Build Press Conference
Clark New City
July 4, 2018
First of all, I’d like to introduce my colleagues here, [NEDA] Secretary [Ernesto] Pernia, [DPWH] Secretary Mark Villar, [DOTr] Secretary Art Tugade, [BCDA] President Vince Dizon, MTD Clark Inc. Chairman Mr. Isaac David, MTD Clark Inc. President Mr. Nicholas David, of course our colleagues in the government, good morning to everybody.
Thank you for taking the time to come here today.
It might have been easier to produce a Powerpoint presentation about the Build, Build, Build program. But we wanted you to see the progress of the infrastructure program as it is actually unfolding on the ground.
This is going to be the first of such events. We will plan to look at some achievements in the construction of roads, bridges, dams – ‘cause I think the one in Chico River is already beginning. So we will show you as well as the Filipino public the progress of the Build, Build, Build in the field.
The Clark special economic zone is at the nexus of well-developed roadways. This area will soon be connected to Manila by the second stage of the PNR North Line. It will be linked to the Subic Freeport by another high-speed rail link. We are seeing here today the birth of a new metropolis.
The New Clark City will bring in several hundred enterprises and billions in new investments. The excellent logistics and the prospective rail link to Subic will make this area an ideal place to build manufacturing, especially food processing and other export industries.
In addition to the New Clark City, the first fully planned “smart and green” metropolis, we are building nearby the National Government Administrative Center. This will house initially the back-up facilities for all national government agencies to ensure operational continuity in the event of a major calamity in Metro Manila. It will also host the main offices of several national government agencies. The first one of course here is the Department of Transportation, which Art Tugade here moved about a year ago.
This will also be the site of world-class sports facilities. These will be built in time for the nation’s hosting of Southeast Asian Games scheduled for November 2019.
All the developments you see around you are part of a plan to decongest Metro Manila by interconnecting this part of the country and investing in new growth centers.
In the first five months of this year, the national government spending on infrastructure reached P281 billion. This is an increase of 42 percent over the same period last year. These numbers are on top of the private sector construction and public sector projects financed through the Public-private partnership (PPP).
So if you figure P281 billion in infrastructure in the first five months. So every month, we are spending close to P56 billion a month. 30 percent of that is salaries. Therefore, our injection into the economy of additional salaries is about P17 billion a month. So this is fuelling additional incomes for construction workers, for people who are selling construction materials. And of course, this is creating a lot of new jobs. I think the NEDA figured we have created around 100,000 new jobs.
The Build, Build, Build program is a package of major infrastructure projects that will have a strategic impact on our economic growth. We plan to spend between P8 trillion and P9 trillion over the medium term.
The mammoth investment will have a tremendous impact on investment growth and job generation. It will stimulate the economic expansion and help us realize a 7 percent or better GDP growth rate per year. It will help disperse economic activity by ensuring no island or community is left behind. It will improve our competitiveness by bringing down the costs of moving goods and people across our country.
Combined with other reforms, including those that will modernize our tax system and improve on the ease of doing business, we expect to liberate 6 million more Filipinos from poverty in the next five years. From a poverty rate of 21.6 percent in 2015, we intend to bring down poverty incidence to only 14 percent by 2022. This will be the absolute measure of success of our strategy of inclusive growth. This is the goal that has been set for us by President Duterte, and this is how we are implementing it.
Build, Build, Build will drastically alter the Philippine economic landscape. It will create over a million jobs per year. It will bring our logistics backbone up to par in a region that is growing very dynamically.
We fully aspire to be the fastest growing economy in the fastest growing region in the world. This will not be an easy task to accomplish. But we are ready to meet the challenges, driven by the optimism of our people, the confidence of our development partners, and the leadership of President Duterte.
Look around you. A new Filipino future is being built here today.
Thank you.
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