The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is employing some 4,000 engineers to boost the implementation of infrastructure projects under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program.

As the lead agency that implements the  BBB program, the DPWH is seeking to intensify efforts to usher the Philippines into the so-called golden age of infrastructure.

Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said the DPWH has received the go-signal from the Department of Budget and Management to hire more engineers to buttress the agency’s expertise and capacity.

“The BBB program is all systems go. We’ve gotten the approval from the DBM to hire as many as 4,000 engineers to further strengthen the capability of this department, which is the engineering arm of government,” he said in a forum hosted recently by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines.

Villar’s agency leads the BBB team composed of the economic managers of the current administration.

Touted as the government’s “most ambitious infrastructure plan,” the BBB program lists more or less 70 priority infrastructure projects that are seen to solve the infrastructure crisis that the Philippines faces today.

The new infrastructure thrust was borne out of Duterte’s policy to hike infrastructure spending and develop crucial infrastructure, such as roads, rails and ports.

The Philippines is in the midst of ushering the country into the so-called golden age of Infrastructure, with President Duterte issuing a policy on increased infrastructure spending throughout his term.

His mandate is to increase the budget for infrastructure development to as much as 7 percent of the country’s GDP from a mere 2.9 percent.