From Megaproject to White Elephant: Lessons from the Philippines’s Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

• Main Authors: Mendoza, Ronald U, Bertulfo, Donald Jay M, Cruz, Jerome Patrick D
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2018
• Subjects: Bataan nuclear power plant; infrastructure development; megaprojects; rent-seeking; public–private partnership (PPP); Public Policy
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/asog-pubs/51; http://www.philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.php/ps/article/view/4765
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Drawing from recent literature on white elephant projects, this article examines the case of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP)—the paradigmatic example of a white elephant project in the Philippines. The BNPP megaproject had massive implications for the country’s fiscal standing and long-term economic prospects, offering lessons for future projects of this size and significance. By revisiting the BNPP’s problematic history as well as the continuing infrastructure governance challenges in the post-Marcos period, this study outlines the repercussions of such dynamics for the Philippine government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program, the most ambitious since the Marcos era.