Marcos admin’s infra program trimmed to P8.2 trillion

The total investment cost of the Marcos administration's infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs)—which include those initiated under previous administrations— has been trimmed after the economic team weeded out redundancies, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

“The total investment value, we used to say P9 trillion, is now estimated at P8.2 trillion,” Diokno said during his weekly press chat.

In March, the National Economic and Development Authority Board (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., approved a total of 194 IFPs worth P9 trillion, consisting of 123 “new” projects and 71 from previous administrations.

Diokno said the administration’s economic team found “some redundancies, that’s why it was reduced…”

Meanwhile, the Finance chief said that of the total 194 IFPs, “68 projects are currently on-going implementation, 25 are approved for implementation, nine for government approval, 52 are under project preparation, and 40 are under pre-project preparation.”

Among the on-going IFPs and those approved for implementation, 19 are expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

A total 79 projects are targeted to be completed by the end of the administration’s term in 2028.

The top three sources of funding for the infrastructure program are official development assistance, which has the biggest share at P4.51 trillion; followed by public-private partnership at P2.5 trillion; and the national budget or the General Appropriations Act at P850.58 billion.

The Marcos administration is earmarking 5% to 6% of the country’s gross domestic product for its infrastructure initiative. — BM, GMA Integrated News