BIZ BUZZ: Worse than corruption
What’s worse than corruption?
For many construction firms keeping tabs on the ongoing food control brouhaha, the bigger nightmare isn’t finding the rotten eggs in the food control saga—it’s having construction come to a standstill.
Zero action is worse than corruption, the head of a big construction and engineering firm told Biz Buzz.
Indeed, these companies now feel the pinch from the slowdown in infrastructure spending that we are starting to see in the official government data—the same trend that economists fear would drastically curb economic growth.
Big firms can survive, no doubt, the construction magnate said, as they have a robust pipeline of contracts with the private sector. Without the multiplier effect from big government projects, however, the private sector can’t do the heavy lifting for long, they said.
Other legitimate contractors share the same sentiment. They all hope that the departments that could catalyze development, particularly the Department of Public Works and Highways, will be able to move on and fulfill with their real mandate.
“Let the ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure) handle the rest,” the construction magnate said.
With only three years to go, the administration should not be distracted from pursuing other much-needed projects, they added.
Similarly, they feel that the Department of Transportation should pick up the pace. After the privatization of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, nothing big has been put into motion.
On a brighter note, our sources are happy with how the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is pushing mass housing developments in the country.
But for other agencies with huge potential to create a multiplier effect on the economy, whatever happened to our Build Better More (BBM) promise?
