With eight government agencies still to submit their projects and programs until 2016, the cost of the country’s Medium-Term Public Investment Program (MTPIP) for 2011 to 2016 could well exceed P1.7 trillion.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General for Investment Programming Rolando G. Tungpalan said the preliminary estimate for the MTPIP is already “in the order of P1.7 trillion” at 80-percent agency submission. Thus it is “most likely” that this amount will be exceeded once all agencies are able to submit their projects and programs to be funded during the term of President Aquino.

The deadline of agencies to submit their projects is on Friday, Tungpalan said on Tuesday after a technical board meeting of the interagency Infrastructure Committee or InfraCom.

The InfraCom is composed of the Neda director general as chairman; the secretary of public works and highways, as co-chairman; and the executive secretary and the chiefs of the departments of  transportation and communications, finance, and budget and management, as members. 

It recommends to the President the government policies, programs and projects concerning infrastructure development consistent with national development objectives and priorities.

The committee is scheduled to present the MTPIP to the Neda Board within this month. The board is the highest policy-making body of the Neda; it is chaired by the President. 

Tungpalan said the InfraCom needs to assess if the MTPIP will be able to meet the goals of the 2011-16 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), which aims to achieve a steady 7-percent to 8-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth until 2016.

The government aims to achieve this growth through massive infrastructure development, particularly
in key growth areas. This will also raise the country’s infrastructure to GDP ratio to 5 percent during the MTPDP period from the current 2.6 percent.

“I gave instructions to relate this level of infrastructure investments emerging with the targets of the [MTPDP] because we hope to achieve infrastructure to GDP from 2.6 [percent] to 5 percent within the plan period. Second, apart from just getting the ratio of infrastructure to GDP, we ensure that infrastructure investments are directly supportive of the priorities in agriculture, industry and tourism, and the service sector. They are not stand alone infrastructure investments but they are basically linked to those growth areas,” Tungpalan said.

The previous MTPIP for 2004 to 2010 required an estimated P2.13 trillion, with the lion’s share going to investments for economic growth and job creation, which amounted to P1.49 trillion. Of this amount, some P82.8 billion was earmarked for trade and investment; agribusiness, P357.1 billion; environment and natural resources, P198.5 billion; housing construction, P264.6 billion; and infrastructure, P571.7 billion. 

Earlier, Neda Director General Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said the completion of the MTPIP is being pushed back to after the second State of the Nation Address of the President to accommodate all the administration’s priority projects.

The program was supposed to have been completed in July, consistent with the initial estimates of the government. However, various issues, including the delay of the completion and publication of the MTPDP, forced the government to push back its schedule.

The MTPIP contains the projects and programs that the administration intends to finance and complete in a span of six years. It is the accompanying document to the MTPDP, which is the country’s six-year economic blueprint.