THE Asian Development Bank will provide a $380-million loan to the Philippine government in its effort to help strengthen the road network and further spur economic development in Mindanao.
In a statement Friday, ADB said the Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project—ADB’s biggest infrastructure investment in the island region”•sought to improve about 280 kilometers of national roads and bridges in Mindanao, the country’s second largest island with about 20 million people.
“The project, which is also the first Mindanao-specific loan granted by ADB in 16 years, will help the transport system better deal with the effects of climate change through features such as elevated pavements, enhanced slope protection, and better drainage,” it said.
“It will benefit women by improving their access to basic infrastructure, social services, and economic or financial resources or opportunities. Communities will also benefit from road safety awareness campaigns to be conducted under the project,” ADB said.
In related developments:
• Last Wednesday, Congress, voting in a joint session approved President Rodrigo Duterte’s request extending the validity of martial law for another one year or until Dec. 31, 2018.
Duterte declared martial law last May 23 after an estimated 1,000 ISIS-inspired Maute Group members occupied Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said: “The cover of martial law would embolden elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to indiscriminately attack and kill perceived ‘enemies of the State’ and conduct warrantless arrests, searches and seizures even against innocent civilians while courts are functioning to judiciously issue such warrants.”
• The Social Welfare Department announced it had lifted some of the requirements needed by Marawi City households to qualify for subsidies under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) until December next year.
“We have suspended the conditionalities that will allow them to receive funds even if they are not attending school or not going to health clinics, or not even attending the family development sessions,” DSWD officer-in-charge Undersecretary Emmanuel Leyco told reporters in a Palace news briefing.
“We have some 12,000 households who are members of our Pantawid and, therefore, we’d like to make sure that the funds are delivered to them,” he added.
Families who are not qualified as 4Ps beneficiaries will be offered livelihood projects, Leyco said, adding the DSWD is also considering enrolling more 4Ps families upon evaluation.
Conditionalities were initially suspended just until March of next year, but the DSWD’s recommendation to extend it until the rest of the year has just been approved, Leyco added.
It said all project roads would be geotagged with information accessible on the Internet, so the public could monitor road investment projects throughout the project life cycle, including procurement and construction.
Additionally, the assistance will help finance the detailed design of 300 kilometers of national highways in Mindanao, which will be constructed through other projects.
Institutionally, it will help the Department of Public Works and Highways to improve the long-term planning, fiscal accountability, and human resource management in the transport sector in Mindanao and the rest of the country.
The total project cost is estimated at $503 million, with the government of the Philippines contributing $123 million.
“Improving roads in Mindanao will support the development of economic opportunities in areas such as agribusiness, ecotourism, and logistics, and improve access to markets, jobs, education, and health facilities,” said Jeffrey Miller, principal transport specialist at ADB’s Southeast Asia Department.
Efficient road transport is crucial for the Philippines’ economic growth, but the sector has not kept up with population growth. About 23 percent of the national road network is in poor condition, due to various reasons including inadequate funding, lack of maintenance, and the impact of climate change, such as flooding.
Mindanao’s road network is less developed than the national average, with only 70 percent of the roads paved, compared with 82 percent in Luzon and 89 percent in the Visayas.
Despite its rich natural resources, Mindanao also has the highest poverty incidence among the Philippines’ three island groups at 32 percent, largely because of civil conflict and low economic growth.
The P8.44-trillion “Build, Build, Build” program, the centerpiece of Duterte’s 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, aims to increase public investment and accelerate infrastructure delivery. Public spending on infrastructure is expected to reach 7.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2022, up from the 5.3 percent target in 2017.
ADB has been providing comprehensive support to the government to implement and manage sophisticated public works projects.
The project will help link the island”•economically and physically”•to other parts of the Philippines and support the government’s effort to develop Mindanao’s economy, reduce poverty, and achieve high, inclusive, and sustainable growth.
The project will also contribute to and benefit from the development of the Greater Sulu Sulawesi Corridor, which encompasses Mindanao, in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Association of Southeast Asian Nations Growth Area.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. It is owned by 67 members”•48 from the region.
In 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 billion in co-financing. With Maricel V. Cruz and John Paolo Bencito
