Subway, road project loans eyed for signing

AGREEMENTS for two Japanese government- financed projects worth a total of $1.01 billion are expected to be signed before the end of this month, the Finance department said on Wednesday.

The deals involve the first tranche of the 104.5-billion yen phase of the Metro Manila Subway Project and the 9.399-billion yen ($89 million) loan accord for the third phase of the Plaridel Bypass Road Project in Bulacan, the department said in a statement.

Signing has been targeted for the last week of January but this is dependent on the issuance of the Monetary Board’s approval and a special presidential authority, it added.

- nila Subway Project will run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Food Terminal complex in Taguig City and up to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Paranaque City. The subway is expected to help decongest traf business centers in Metro Manila to the country’s premier international gateway.

The Plaridel Bypass Road Project, meanwhile, involves the construction of a 24.61-kilometer arterial road that will link the North Luzon Expressway in Balagtas, Bulacan with the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway (Maharlika Highway) in San Rafael, Bulacan

congestion.

The Finance department also said that a 15.928- billion yen ($142 million) loan agreement for the Cavite Industrial Area Flood Risk Management Project was also being targeted for Monetary Board approval with the loan expected February.

8,000 households as well as manufacturing plants in the cities of General Trias and Imus and the municipalities of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario.