Traffic congestion in Metro Manila not hurting FDIs — Lacierda

Braving the Manila traffic situation (Photo courtesy of PanoBaMagBlog on WordPress)

MANILA — Despite traffic congestion along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila, a Palace official is confident that this is not discouraging foreign investors from doing business in the Philippines.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, in a briefing Wednesday, said traffic situation is not the sole reason that businessmen consider when locating to an area.

He said a more important factor is the inflows of foreign direct investments (FDIs).

“Traffic is not the only basis for saying: ‘Should I like to invest in the Philippines or not?’ It’s the business climate, it’s the business environment, it’s the laws and rules that govern how much return can I get from a country where I am investing. Traffic is circumstance,” he said.

Lacierda noted that FDIs in the country is rising.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data shows that FDIs to the Philippines posed a 76.9 percent year-on-year rise in the first half of 2014 after it reached US$ 3.57 billion.

In June alone, FDIs expanded by 2,397.7 percent to US$ 588 million, a reversal from the US$ 26 million outflows same period in 2013.

Lacierda said the government is doing its best to address traffic problems caused by torrential rains resulting to flood, among others.

He said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) are working together to implement infrastructure projects aimed at preventing flooding in the future.

“It does not come immediately because it will take some time to really improve all these systems but we are there now. Again, as in any infrastructure project, it will take some time to finish it but once we finish all these, it will better our system, our waterways. It will minimize the flooding in the areas concerned,” he said.

”We are doing it now. We are solving it now so that in the future we will be able to minimize all these inconveniences to the public,” he added.