MANILA, Philippines — China Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said Friday that he hopes President Rodrigo Duterte will be granted emergency powers soon to jumpstart planned infrastructure projects.
Speaking at the Manila Times Business Forum in Davao on Friday, Zhao said China-funded infrastructure projects should be completed within President Duterte's term "because we are quite afraid of taking up projects that go beyond the presidential term" because of potential complications.
The Philippines and China had cool relations under Duterte's predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III, after the Philippines insisted on its claim over parts of the South China Sea. Duterte has said he is not setting aside a decision by an international tribunal that China's nine-dash-line claim does not have legal basis and has said he will discuss the dispute with China at some point in the future.
Zhao added that infrastructure projects usually takes several years to finish.
"So I hope President Duterte can get his emergency power as soon as possible," Zhao said.
President Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address last July 2016, requested that emergency powers may be granted to him to solve the traffic crisis in the Philippines. The envisioned emergency powers would include the power to speed up the resolution of right-of-way disputes and other bottlenecks.
Former head of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Emerson Carlos meanwhile, said in July 2016 that the emergency powers may also be used to speed up infrastructure projects.
"It is better to use the emergency powers for infrastructure projects to solve traffic congestion because there is no instant solution for infrastructure," he said.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, during the meeting of the Senate and the House of Representative last December, 2016 for the passage of the bill granting the president emergency powers, warned Congress that the longer it takes to grant the emergency powers, the longer it will take to solve the traffic problem.
"Every one month delay in granting emergency powers means additional three to six months’ delay in the implementation of (infrastructure) projects," he said.
READ: Pimentel laments delay of emergency powers bill
Zhao said that without the emergency powers, the process of big infrastructure projects "particularly, with regard to the rehabilitation or the land issue," might be too slow.
"We might be stuck there. I think that's the one of the top priorities as far as infrastructure projects are concerned," Zhao said.
Zhao said that they have already identified projects that will be financed by the Chinese soft loan which might begin "by the second half of this year."
He added that there are already three projects that might be breaking ground in the year namely the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, the New Centennial Watersource Project in Rizal, and the North-South Railway from Manila to Legazpi City.
"These are the three projects we have taken in as priority projects because they are already approved by the Filipino side," Zhao said.
Last October, 2016, President Duterte made a state visit to China, which promised a $6-billion US soft loan, and a $3-billion credit line to be provided by the Bank of China.