EXCEL:
INNOVATING THE FUTURE
Today’s generation was in lined by
innovation, leveling up and upgrade. Progress is just around the corner but we
can’t claim it, due to the low standards of Philippine infrastructure we cannot
attain the level of the facilities that other country offers.
The Philippines has underinvested in
infrastructure – it was ranked 97th out of 137 nations in the WEF report for
2017-2018. Its score of 3.4 out of 7 is the same with Rwanda and even lower
than that of Kenya, Cape Verde, and Albania.
"We're improving, but our neighbors are
improving faster. We need to focus our efforts to addressing key constraints to
competitiveness. Philippine leads itself in improving its infrastructure but
due to the corruption of fund, lack of knowledge we cannot lead our country to
give a suitable and efficient infrastructure needed.
"Inadequate supply of
infrastructure" is one of the top 3 reasons the Philippines' score
slipped even if it climbed a notch in the rankings. In the current years,
Philippines’ start its road widening project, and road reconstruction but after
couple of months the road will begin to fixed again and remove all the newly
reconstructed road. This implies that the materials use on creating
infrastructures was low quality and do not follow the standards of a highly
recommended infrastructure construction.
The report showed that the Philippines'
overall infrastructure lags behind those of its Southeast Asian neighbors. The
WEF investigated the quality as well as availability of roads, railroads,
ports, air transport, electricity, and telephones.
A country of scattered
landmass, the Philippines is ranked the third most disaster-prone country in
the world, as its close proximity to the equator encourages destructive weather
such as earthquakes and storms. This, along with uncontrolled population growth,
exacerbates the reality of poverty within this collection of islands.
Fortunately, there are significant plans in the works that focus on kicking
such insufficiency to the curb, solutions that include the advancement of
infrastructure in the Philippines.
Historically,
insufficient infrastructure development has stunted both economic growth and
poverty reduction, but there is an active movement toward improvement. Within
the past couple of years, proposals have been met with action to pave the way
for a change. The following are three important facts regarding infrastructure
in the Philippines.
1.
$7.6 billion has
recently been approved to establish new infrastructure in the
Philippines. President Rodrigo
Duterte has plans for robust projects such as
bridges, roads and the Metro Manila Subway. Under the national “Build, Build,
Build” initiative, the country is looking to spend $180 billion to renovate and
build airports, railways, roads and ports over a six-year period.
2.
Additional
financing for the Rural Development Project for the Philippines was approved
January 11, 2018. Costing over $2 million, this project aims to
promote job creation, especially within rural development. It seeks to boost rural incomes and
enrich both farm and fishery productivity in specified regions, as well as to
establish essential pieces of infrastructure, like a network of roads, that
allow farmers to sell products at market and connect to the urban areas.
3.
From 2006 to 2015,
poverty in the Philippines took a dive. A
recent report by the World Bank states that economic growth is responsible for
poverty levels dropping by five percent. From 26.6 percent in 2006 to 21.6
percent in 2015, such a decrease in numbers is also a result of the expansion
of job opportunities outside the agriculture sector.The Filipino government has
a goal to reduce poverty from 13 to 15 percent by 2022. According to the World
Bank, plans include the Philippine Development Plan 2017–2022 and AmBisyon
2040, a long-term vision to reduce poverty and recover the lives and wellbeing
of the most marginalized regions and communities of the nation.The World Bank’s
Poverty Assessment report recommends the following policy directions to achieve
the proposed targets: “Create more and better jobs; improve productivity in all
sectors, especially agriculture; equip Filipinos with skills needed for the
21st century economy; invest in health and nutrition; focus poverty reduction
efforts on Mindanao; and manage disaster risks and protect the vulnerable.”
The sizeable collection of Filipino islands has
an undying potential to continue reducing poverty through its infrastructure
advancement efforts. Although an extremely complex process, both the booming
Filipino economy and government project initiatives are projected to gradually
alleviate cyclical Filipino poverty. The future of infrastructure in the
Philippines is looking bright.
