Yen-funded infra projects top PHL-Japan meeting

OFFICIALS from the Philippines and Japan are set to meet in Osaka, Japan, on Thursday (February 21), for an update by the Philippine side on the progress of project approvals and the processing of financing arrangements that will provide the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program with additional financing support from Japan.

Besides holding the seventh meeting of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation, government officials headed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III are also set to hold a Philippine Economic Briefing the following day, according to a statement issued by the Department of Finance (DOF) on Wednesday.

Philippine officials will also report on the ongoing peace process in Mindanao, following the approval of the Bangsamoro

Organic Law (BOL), which will clear the way for the creation of a new Bangsamoro region.

Japan, for its part, will report on its observation mission during the Bangsamoro plebiscite and on possible additional areas of cooperation to assist in the Philippines’s peace-building programs in Mindanao.

Dominguez and other DOF officials will also visit the National Tax College Osaka Training Center, to learn from its best experiences and gain inputs on how to transform the Philippine Tax Academy

(PTA) in Manila into a premier tax knowledge center and effective training arm for state officials and employees in taxation.

The DOF said the two countries likewise “expect the loan agreement for the Road Network Development Project in ConflictAffected Areas in Mindanao to be signed soon,” following the exchange of notes for this project between Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Japan Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno during the latter’s visit to Davao City on February 10.

Since its first meeting in March 2017, the High-Level Joint Committee has made substantial progress in speeding up loan approvals for Japan-supported BBB infrastructure projects, with Manila and

Tokyo so far signing nine loan agreements since President Duterte assumed office in June 2016.

Dominguez said the loan agreements, with a combined amount of ¥398.82 billion or P189.92 billion (or about $3.63 billion), are for the following projects that were signed between October 2016 and January 2019 namely:

Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the Philippine Coast Guard (Phase II);

Harnessing Agribusiness Opportunities through Robust and Vibrant Entrepreneurship Supportive of Peaceful Transformation (Harvest);

Cavite Industrial Area Flood Risk Management Project;

Arterial Road Bypass Project (Phase III) in Bulacan;

New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project (II);

Metro Rail Transit Line 3 Rehabilitation Project;

Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project (Phase IV);

North-South Commuter Railway Extension Project (1st tranche of loan); and

Metro Manila Subway Project