For a moment I had trouble selecting a title for this column. Should it be “a plethora of projects”, “projects galore”, or simply “more projects”. I settled for the third one because it clearly describes what is happening. That Eastern Visayas is getting more government infrastructure projects these days is well known. Everybody certainly knows the reason for this.
We must recognize that the allocation of public funds also known as the power over the purse is granted by the Philippine Constitution to Congress. There is no need to belabor that essential point which we can call an ace of and favorable to this region. No other region can claim the same. We are in a very unique situation. This implies that we have to play our cards right.
We all appreciate this happy turn of events and political situation. The challenge is how to make this ace lead to projects that will impact on reaching the region's developmental goals. That is effectiveness. The other objective is how can the projects be implemented efficiently. If only one of these objectives is met, there is a failure in using the ace properly.
This concept needs an explanation. To be effective these projects must improve the poverty situation in the region, which is among the highest in the country, These projects must have impacts that will improve the employment and income situation of the poor. After all, equality and social justice are major goals of any administration. Given this, the questions are: Will the projects increase employment? Will they increase family income? Will they improve the quality of life? Will they help in the pursuit of economic and social development that is sustainable?
We also must consider efficiency in using government resources: the least input for the greatest output.
Now let us go to a sample of projects recently launched and a few that will soon have their ground-breaking activities. Let me cite them: (1) Construction of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Center in Alang-Alang, Leyte, with a cost of 250 million pesos, (2) Construction of a Sports Center in Tolosa, Leyte, with a cost of 200 million pesos, (3) Construction of the Benjamin Romualdez International Convention Center in Tacloban City, site development Phase 1 with a cost of 500 million pesos, and Phase II of this site development costing 250 million pesos. In previous issues, I mentioned the Tacloban Airport Development Project at 4 billion pesos, the Tacloban Causeway Project at 6 billion pesos, and the Palo-Tacloban By-pass Road with Drainage Project costing 4 billion pesos. We can add to this list the proposed second San Juanico bridge and the Babatngon Port which have no definite costs yet but will be several billion pesos. All of these are to be finished within the next three to four years, with more funding coming for these and other projects especially if there are variation orders like the three orders issued for the airport project. The orders effectively added at least 200 million pesos to the total project cost.
We can apply the effectiveness and efficiency criteria to these projects and determine whether, and to what extent will these help solve the major economic and social problems of Eastern Visayas.
Do more projects automatically result in an improved economy? Unfortunately, in many cases, this does not happen. Often, there are huge gaps between planning a project and funding it vis-à-vis implementing and using it.
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