THE Marcos administration is confident of moving the economy forward this year and even beyond its term based on the country’s inherent strengths and resources and not just on borrowings.
Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) chair, Atty. Alex Lopez, said the full development of the 655-hectares of reclaimed lands at the Manila Bay is continuing and is envisioned to fuel the country’s economic growth and full potential beyond the term of President Marcos.
In a public disclosure, Lopez further bared the project is among the many the PRA has lined up aimed at creating various ‘economic hubs’ across the country for the remainder of the Marcos administration but without adding to the country’s debt burden.
“Zero expenditure, no burdensome additional cost to the public treasury as instructed by the President,” Lopez bared.
“What the President envisions is the creation of more regional economic hubs in order to spread the benefit of economic progress to our citizens thru long-term employment generation, business opportunities and greater public participation.
“This project is the beginning of many more positive things to come,” the official said.
The PRA Board headed by Lopez made their initial presentation of the project to the President last January 20.
A carefully planned future
As planned, 88 kilometers of new roads, 102 new drainage systems, 15 new bridges and 22 kilometers of easements to prevent flooding would be built to ensure the project’s accessibility and long-term viability.
Parks and open spaces encompassing some 200 hectares to ensure a livable community while also ensuring compliance with the country’s environmental laws are also incorporated in the master plan, Lopez added.
An initial estimate has placed the cost of infrastructure for the reclamation project that covers the cities of Manila, Pasay, and Parañaque at more than P400 billion spread over several years.
PRA’s unprecedented revenue growth
“With the President guiding all our key decisions at the PRA, we are presently at a very robust financial position. We believe that we can finance even this gargantuan development project without the government resorting to more borrowings,” Lopez said.
Records show that when the Marcos administration took over in 2022, PRA’s audited net income after tax (NIAT) was only ₱2.682 billion.
By the end of 2023 after the appointment of the new PRA board headed by Lopez, the audited NIAT soared to ₱17.104 billion and further to ₱29.900 billion in 2024.
The strategic policy reforms initiated by the PRA Board also resulted to a 483 percent increase in the valuation of its property assets in just two years, or from ₱142.02 billion in 2022, ₱165.61 billion in 2023 to ₱205.75 billion in 2024.
“The increase is primarily attributable to the recognition of revalued investment properties which increased the PRA’s asset valuation by 483 percent between CY 2022 and 2024,” explained Ynna Margarita Yalong-Gelomina, PRA’s Division Manager for Corporate Planning.
“The PRA Board appointed by President Marcos led the strategic policy reform in the accounting of investment properties from cost model to fair value model, hence the corrected recognition of PRA assets,” she added.
‘Business World,’ in its ranking of the country’s 10 most profitable companies in 2023, placed the PRA at the top with a gross profit of ₱89.86 billion, a development that surprised corporate watchers as it has been a very long while since a government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) has surged to the top of corporate profitability.
Lopez further assured the public that unlike other projects that have been marred with scandals due to poor workmanship, substandard quality and bloated budgets, the PRA projects would be among those that any Filipino can be proud of, once completed.
“We have world-class engineers and designers who would be on-board to make sure that our projects are completed in accordance with the rigorous standards set by our President with not one centavo wasted,” Lopez stressed.