MANILA (UPDATED) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. touted progress in the government's infrastructure program and said right-of-way issues impeding these projects will be resolved.

"We are in the midst of a railway renaissance," Marcos said as he pointed to the different mass transit projects that the government is undertaking.

He said the Metro Manila Subway Project had seen significant accomplishments in its tunneling works and that other railway projects, such as the MRT-7 and the North-South Commuter Railway are also progressing.

He also pointed to the LRT-1 Cavite Extension project, which he said will open to the public this year.

"We will make sure that the right-of-way issues are resolved in the most equitable, efficient, and expeditious manner so that these will not get in the way of our infrastructure development," Marcos said.

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Aside from railways, Marcos also said the government had already built and upgraded 12,000 kilometers worth of roads and more than 1,200 bridges across the country. 

New expressways are also set to open this year and next year.

He said the (CLLEX) Central Luzon Link Expressway, the NLEX-SLEX (North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway) Connector, and the Plaridal Bypass will be fully completed by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the CALAX (Cavite-Laguna Expressway) and the C-5 South Link will be fully operational by next year.

Marcos said that through these new roads, the regions of Northern and Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and Southern Luzon will be more connected to each other. 

Two major bridges in Mindanao are also set to open this year he said.

"One is the Panguil Bay Bridge, touted as the longest water-spanning bridge in northern Mindanao. This bridge will connect Lanao del Norte to Misamis Occidental. The other is the Guicam Bridge in Zamboanga Sibugay, which shall connect Olutanga Island to the mainland of Mindanao," he said.

The Marcos administration has vowed to sustain the level of infrastructure spending at 5 to 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the second half of its term.

This year, P1.5 trillion out of the P5.8 trillion national budget was allocated for infrastructure, which is equivalent to 5.7 percent of GDP, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Despite the big-ticket infrastructure projects, transport reform advocate Ira Cruz of AltMobility PH said Marcos Jr. "did not tackle basic mobility needs."

In a message to ABS-CBN News, Cruz said that Marcos' three SONAs "have centered on roads, bridges, expressways, rails, and airports and airports and seaports; absolutely nothing on the day-to-day needs of ordinary Filipinos."

He said that while rail is good, "the truth is, it will fail to solve mobility issues if not designed along other transport systems" like jeepneys and buses that would service rail stations.