Opening Statement Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning Philippine Infrastructure Development Seminar New World Hotel, Makati City February 15, 2013
First of all, thank you for coming to this seminar on the Phlippine infrastructure development. I would also like to thank each one of you for your contribution as our partners in development in helping our country achieve a 6.6 percent GDP growth in 2012, which exceeded our initial target of 5-6 percent. Investor confidence has significantly improved during the last two years since initiatives in good governance and an environment conducive for partnerships between the public and private sector have been put in place.
While we have made remarkable gains from the recent quarters’ growth, our goal in achieving the inclusive development agenda does not end there. With help from our partners in development, the private sector, and civil society, the Government must ensure that our current level of economic growth in the next few years and beyond is sustained, and that all Filipinos, especially the poor, are able to benefit from an improved Philippine economy.
The Government’s infrastructure program as espoused under the 2011-2016 Philippine Development Plan (PDP) aims to contribute to this vision of inclusive economic growth. In the medium to long term, our aim is to massively build infrastructure critical to getting the country to a higher growth trajectory and making basic goods and services accessible to all Filipinos, especially the poor and marginalized.
At the Philippine Development Forum (PDF) held last week in Davao City, the Infrastructure Working Group identified some of the major challenges confronting the infrastructure sector. These are: (1) extremely low investment in infrastructure; and (2) weak coordination in planning and implementation. Inadequate infrastructure and associated services, such as in the transport and power subsectors, including uncoordinated cross-department e-government services, are constraints to economic development. In Mindanao, for example, the low power reserve is a serious hindrance to achieving better economic performance for the region.
These problems are recurrent issues that have constantly troubled the infrastructure sector in the past, causing it to perform below its full potential. Times, however, are evidently changing and the Philippine economy is emerging to be one of the most dynamic economies in the region with continued rapid growth and macroeconomic stability. In the World Economic Forum’s 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report, the Philippines, ranked 65th, is one of the few countries that have shown pronounced improvement by advancing 22 places since its lowest mark in 2009.
These positive indicators show that we are on the right track; however, we remain dutifully mindful of the challenges ahead of us. The same Global Competitiveness Report shows that the state of the Philippine’s infrastructure is among the serious constraints faced by the country to be globally competitive as an investment location. Improvement of our infrastructure is key to stimulating investment and business activities as well as improving productivity to sustain the country’s rapid growth as well as move forward in our inclusive development agenda.
Our role in NEDA, as the country’s socioeconomic planning and coordinating body, involves spearheading development efforts and activities to ensure that all stakeholders and development players move in a clear and unified direction. One of these activities is this infrastructure development seminar, which will impress upon all of us the various challenges and issues in infrastructure development which the government is currently facing, as well as the plans that it intends to pursue now and in the coming years. As our partners in development, we hope that this seminar will help you situate your respective efforts in the development process in order for each of our contributions to be in line with the overall effort to realize our vision for the Philippines.
The Japanese Government, which is co-sponsoring this seminar, is helping us in the formulation of an infrastructure development roadmap for the transport sector that would serve as a guide in the development and prioritization of programs and projects. This aims to enhance interconnections and linkages within Metro Manila and surrounding areas, as well as further study the necessary interconnections to other economic regions in the country.
I would like to thank the Government of Japan for its continued support, as well as the various presenters today who will showcase sound practices in infrastructure development. May this seminar succeed as a productive venue for knowledge-sharing and in forging lasting partnerships for Philippine development. I also hope that this seminar will serve as a catalyst for similar activities in the future, and enable us to continue our efforts as we move forward to realize our country’s potential.
A fruitful day to all of us. Maraming salamat po.
M.R. No. 2013-021
15 February 2013
