THE government has given the green light for 87 infrastructure projects to proceed so far, a marked improvement from the record of previous administrations, its chief economic planner said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said a total of 87 projects obtained final approval from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, which President Rodrigo R. Duterte chairs, since the administration took over in 2016.

The NEDA Board is the highest policy-making body for approving major projects, after they go through various stages of evaluation for economic impact and technical and financial feasibility.

Mr. Pernia said the total includes both big ticket projects under the revised 100-project infrastructure program as well as small ones that are not on the list.

“We have already approved 87 projects in a matter of three years and a half, that’s a pretty good record compared with previous three administrations together… that is something that we can be proud of,” Mr. Pernia said at the open forum of an economic briefing conducted by NordCham Philippines on Friday.

On Wednesday, the NEDA Board approved eight new infrastructure projects with a total cost of P547.6 billion, including th P57.07-billion Metro Rail Transit Line 4 (MRT-4) and the P8.51-billion EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) Greenways project.

However, Mr. Pernia said not all approved projects will be completed before the administration steps down in 2022, but added that construction starts are likely to commit the next government to implement them.

The Finance department had said the government will leave P1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure projects in the pipeline for its successor administration.

“I think it would be embarassing for the next administration to not be as effective and as efficient in generating, approving projects as well as in implementing them, if they cannot even match or nearly match what we have done,” Mr. Pernia added. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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