Infrastructure Quotes

“The American Society of Civil Engineers said in 2007 that the U.S. had fallen so far behind in maintaining its public infrastructure -- roads, bridges, schools, dams -- that it would take more than a trillion and half dollars over five years to bring it back up to standard. Instead, these types of expenditures are being cut back. At the same time, public infrastructure around the world is facing unprecedented stress, with hurricanes, cyclones, floods and forest fires all increasing in frequency and intensity. It's easy to imagine a future in which growing numbers of cities have their frail and long-neglected infrastructures knocked out by disasters and then are left to rot, their core services never repaired or rehabilitated. The well-off, meanwhile, will withdraw into gated communities, their needs met by privatized providers. ”
― Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

“Fortifying the company involves assessing the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and implementing safeguards.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Board Room Blitz: Mastering the Art of Corporate Governance

“We cannot, of course, physically harm the President of the United States, but it is not illegal to lead him into a bramble, some uneven pavement, rocky terrain. Let your deteriorating roads, bridges, and public schools work for us.”
― Maria Bamford, Weakness is the Brand

“Municipalities that prioritize recreation infrastructure are In so doing prioritizing human well-being.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“Urban decay is a thing. And the way to avoid urban decay is to actively plan for urban regeneration.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

“Municipalities that do not budget and plan for infrastructure upgrades will eventually become unlivable.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“As for relegated/delegated responsibility to ensure organizational software licensing compliance, management is still accountable when intellectual property rights are violated. If the safeguarding responsibility is assigned to an ineffective and/or inefficient unit within an organization, IT audit should recommend an alternative arrangement after the risks are substantiated.”
― Robert E. Davis

“Instead of sidewalks, why not sideruns? After all, the pace of life is faster than it has ever been, so I think our infrastructure’s nomenclature should reflect that.”
― Jarod Kintz, There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can't

“Filipinos have built many cities, expressways, subways, railways, and airports elsewhere in the world as OFWs. The pandemic gave us the best talent pool one could ever ask for. Build, Build, Build gave OFWs an opportunity to serve their country if they wanted to. Although we couldn’t match the salaries they received abroad, many stayed to ensure that Filipinos would get to use infrastructure that they only saw in photos before. We are on the right track. The Philippines can be a trillion-dollar economy. President Rodrigo Duterte already laid the grounds to make this possible. It will be up to us to make it happen.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“About five years ago, on our first day of office — Build, Build, Build Czar Mark Villar and I were talking — “What can we do to make the Philippines a better place?” His answer was simple —roads to the most rural areas so that children can go to school without risking their lives, bridges to connect farmers and fishermen to their markets and infrastructure that would open up opportunities in the countryside and allow Filipinos to dream and aspire for a better future.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Build, Build, Build has been the target of fake news, trolls, and critics. They have tried to redefine it far from its scope — and in their “proud, most credible voice” — report it as truth. Are they confused or just simply cunning? During the upcoming elections, many will try to discredit the accomplishments of 6.5 million construction workers. They will say that what we have completed is not enough, that there could have been many things that we could have done still, or that we never really worked at all.

Allow me to say — if you are reading this, and you’re part of the Build, Build, Build team - without you, we wouldn’t have been able to build 29,264 kilometers of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 classrooms, 214 airport projects, and 451 seaport projects.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“We are nearing the end of this phase of the #tech boom. The next phase is starting - heterogeneous compute, infrastructure plasticity, etc. and that doesn't even include quantum.
Tom Golway 2022”
― Tom Golway, Edge to Cloud

“Beyond Serverless is Infrastructure Plasticity where the underlying physical infrastructure is enriched and presented to the application as a Metaverse that is fully optimized to support the application’s service requirements,”
― Tom Golway, Edge to Cloud

“To effectively usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure, the Duterte Administration created Build, Build, Build, a medium-term development strategy, which aimed to mobilize the largest work force in Philippine history to implement an infrastructure plan consistent with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“As a student, I dreamed of a nation without roadblocks. I didn’t realize that 10 years after, I’d be part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build team. And since July 2016, according to Secretary Mark Villar, DPWH has completed 29,264 kilometers of roads, and 5,950 bridges.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“People would often ask - what is Build, Build, Build? it is a springboard, a chance to turn a dream of connecting Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into a reality. It means connecting 81 provinces, 146 cities, and 1,489 municipalities.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Prior to the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, average infrastructure spending for the past five decades was only at 2.5 percent of the country’s GDP. The 2015 IMF report found that the Philippines had a lower public investment in comparison to other members of ASEAN.

We all know that Build, Build, Build is a program that is not only necessary but is in fact long overdue.

If the Philippines is to achieve its full potential, then it must do something to cut losses due to traffic congestion in Metro Manila, which has gone up to ₱3.5 billion a day. It was at this point that Secretary Mark Villar presented the plan to decongest the 90-year-old EDSA, a 23.8-kilometer circumferential highway, which has long exceeded its maximum capacity of 288,000 vehicles a day.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“This is the first time in Philippine history that expressways operated by different concessionaires — as in this case, San Miguel Corporation and Metro Pacific — will interconnect.
And who are the biggest victors of this arrangement? The Filipino people.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Back in 2016, when Build, Build, Build was just starting, a lot of people had doubts. One friend looked me in the eye and said, “This was another campaign promise meant to be broken.” We were likened to ardent suitors prepared to say anything.

We could not blame them. At that time, it did seem impossible. Traffic in Metro Manila was costing us ₱3.5 billion a day. EDSA has exceeded its capacity by over a hundred thousand vehicles. Government projects were delayed for years — with some projects implemented only after several decades. But while we were all very familiar with this reality, it was not a reality we were prepared to accept. The Philippines was far from its full potential. To many of us, it was a chance to realize a dream. It was a chance to shape history and usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“When the construction of Skyway Stage 3 started, I was a freshman at law school. Almost every day, I’d pass by the same alignment which, if completed, would cut travel time from North Luzon Expressway to South Luzon Expressway from 2.5 hours to only 30 minutes. At the time, I was still working for United Nations and our Manila Office was located at the RCBC Plaza on HV dela Costa on Ayala Avenue. There were many days I hoped they’d fast-track the construction. The promise of reduced travel time from Makati to QC meant more time to study, dine, shower, or sleep. Little did I know that I’d be part of the project about two years later.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Critics have said it cannot be done and yet the output of 6.5 million workers involved in the Build, Build, Build program has proved them wrong.

Another misconception was that most projects are only situated in Metro Manila or are operated under the modality of public private partnership. This is far from the truth. In fact, less than five percent of the Build, Build, Build projects charge toll or operate under a concession agreement.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Back in 2016, no one knew what Build, Build, Build meant or what it stood for. Critics had very little expectation of the team. They wagered against our success, not knowing that when they did, they gambled against the future of their country. They were certain that the infrastructure projects would never materialize — that blueprints would remain as drawings. They didn’t expect 6.5 million Filipinos to stand and work behind it.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“If you are in any way part of Build, Build, Build, be strong and steadfast. The truth will not change only because alternate realities are repeated, or that facts are often ignored. The attacks will be more vicious and it will be at a rate that we have never seen before. Do not be disheartened. There is work to be done still. While we are already able to complete 29,264 kilometers of roads, 15,134 kilometers are still ongoing. While we have already built 5,950 bridges, we still have 1,859 bridges to build.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“We must come to the table knowing that there is no barangay, city, province, government, or country that can solve the COVID-19 crisis alone. More than ever, human collectivism is key. We have prepared for wars even before they happened. Maybe this time, we ought to work together, collectively and purposively, regardless of race, ethnicity, political affiliation, and religion, in finding a solution to a threat that has shaken our very definition of civilization.”
― Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual

“Infrastructure is the foundation that makes it possible for Americans to thrive and live lives of their choosing.”
― Pete Buttigieg

“Knowing that the resulting features of high-quality infrastructure can stand not just as pillars of transportation, but cathedrals of democracy.”
― Pete Buttigieg

“He [Robert Moses] built parks and playgrounds with a lavish hand, but they were parks and playgrounds for the rich and comfortable...Recreation facilities for the poor he doled out like a miser.”
― Robert Caro

“Contour and profile ['modinature'] are the touchstone of the architect.
Here he reveals himself as artist or mere engineer.
Contour is free of all restraint.”
― Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture

“The primordial instinct of every human being is to assure himself of a shelter. The various classes of workers in society to-day no long have dwellings adapted to their needs; neither the artizan nor the intellectual.

It is a question of building which is at the root of the social unrest of to-day: architecture or revolution.”
― Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture

“Culture as infrastructure describes the culture and cultural organizations that allow stakeholders to contest norms’ interpretations and adapt informal constraints in line with the goals of the global community, given the absence of enforcement mechanisms at a global level for formal constraints (i.e. laws and policies).”
― Marvin Cheung, 5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy: System-wide Transformation Methods to Close the Compliance Gap and Advance the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals