The national government intends to spend some P4.71 trillion in the next three years for ongoing and new projects identified under the three-year rolling infrastructure plan (TRIP).

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) documents obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the amount covers around 7,401 projects.

The Neda earlier explained that TRIP is the government’s tool to strengthen the link between programming and budgeting. It ensures that the right types, or the needed projects, are included in the pipeline and are funded accordingly.

“The objective [of the TRIP] is to ensure that well-developed and readily implementable projects queue up for the budget, and a more rigorous program and project-appraisal system can also be put in place,” the policy guidelines and procedures for the TRIP stated.

This includes P3.42 trillion for 4,376 projects under Tier 1 or ongoing projects and P1.287 trillion or 4,376 projects in Tier 2 or new and/or expanded projects.

To maximize government resource spending, the pipeline list of Trip projects will include Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects. Tier 1 will be composed of ongoing projects that need to have continuous funding in the next three years, while Tier 2 includes “new” projects.

Meanwhile, the majority, or 71.19 percent or P3.35 trillion of the funds to be used for these projects, are from the national budget, while 25.18 percent or P1.185 trillion will be obtained from official development assistance (ODA).

Around 2.51 percent or P118.32 billion will be financed through corporate funds of government -owned and -controlled corporations; 0.58 percent or P27.09 billion will be from joint ventures; and 0.54 percent or P25.56 billion will be financed through public-private partnerships.

Based on the document, around 38.19 percent or P1.798 trillion of the projects will be implemented nationwide; 24.1 percent or P1.134 trillion are interregional projects; and some 37.71 percent or P1.225 trillion are region-specific projects.

The data also showed that around 16.42 percent or P772.9 billion will be implemented in Mega Manila; 11.38 percent or P535.76 billion will be implemented in Mindanao; 5.22 percent or P245.84 billion will for the rest of Luzon; and 4.69 percent or P220.51 billion for the Visayas.

More than half of these projects or 56.53 percent are transportation-related. There are 2,378 transportation projects worth P2.661 trillion.

This is followed by social infrastructure projects, which account for 17.49 percent of the cost worth P823.17 billion, which covers 2,173 projects.

Projects in other major sectors include water resource that account for 15.24 percent or P717.13 billion of the cost and 781 of the total projects.

The TRIP is part of the medium- term investment blueprint, the Public Investment Plan. The PIP is also composed of the Core Investment Program, which includes all locally funded and PPP-funded projects that cost P1 billion and above.

In 2016, the interagency infrastructure committee approved the reinstitution of the TRIP to meet the government’s investment targets for public infrastructure.

The Neda said the TRIP is the modified version of the Comprehensive and Integrated Infrastructure Program. The CIIP is a consolidated list of all infrastructure programs of the government.

The only difference between TRIP and CIIP is that the former puts more emphasis on immediate priorities to be undertaken in three-year periods.

In previous years, the Neda explained, government line agencies have been submitting projects for inclusion in the PIP and the CIIP. The PIP is the country’s medium-term public investment plan.

By Cai Ordinario