Economic managers approve 12 projects

MANILA - Economic managers on Friday approved for endorsement to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board a total of 12 infrastructure projects worth PHP626.11 billion.

These projects are: Unsolicited Operate-AddTransfer (OAT) Proposal for the Davao International Airport; Unsolicited Operate-Add-Transfer (OAT) Proposal for the Laguindingan Airport; MRT-4 Project; EDSA Greenways Project; Maritime Safety Enhancement Program; Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB) Project; Cebu-Mactan Bridge (4th Bridge) and Coastal Road Construction Project (New Mactan Bridge Construc

tion Project); Davao City Coastal Bypass Road, including Bucana Bridge Project; Capas-Botolan Road Project; PanayGuimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project; Davao City Bypass Construction Project (DCBCP)-2nd Change in Scope and Cost and Supplemental Loan; and Samar-Pacific Coastal Road Project-Loan Validity and Implementation Extension and Increase in Cost.

In a press briefing after the meeting of the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CC) at the Department of Finance (DOF), Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said the release of the projects are expected “early next year”.

He said this timeline will provide the government ample time to “significantly complete these game-changing projects.”

“It’s crucial that we start these projects. We’ll be working on the procurement that’s why, we’ll fast-track all these projects before the end of the year so that next year, we can focus purely on the detail engineering and procurement of these big-ticket projects,” he said.

Villar said all the 12 projects “are good to go and we can expect implementation to start sooner than later.”

During the same briefing, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the amount of the infrastructure projects in the pipeline is less than PHP50 billion before they took over in 2016.

To date, the line-up of the projects amounts to around PHP1 trillion.

He said they also currently completing the studies on additional projects.

“It will be ready just to be picked up by the next administration so we are presenting the Filipino nation with a robust pipeline,” he added.

The current government targets a PHP1-trillion investment annually to increase infrastructure spending to about PHP8 trillion to PHP9 trillion, or about 7 percent of domestic output by the end of its term in mid-2022. (PNA)