PH prepares for infra funding deals with China, Japan

MANILA -- A Department of Finance (DOF) official revealed several projects have been lined up for financing by China and Japan and signing of these agreements have been set to take place in the first half of 2019.

Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven said about USD10 million worth of projects will be signed with the Japanese government in February.

These projects include the North-South Commuter Railway, the Phase 4 of the Pasig-Marikina River Project and the Mindanao Road Network Project.

Joven said signing of the project financing deals will be made in time for a high-level meeting to take place in Japan.

Relatively, several projects to be financed by China will be signed in time for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s visit to the world’s second-largest economy in April.

Joven did not disclose the amount of the loan but said it will be used to fund the construction of the PNR South LongHaul project and the Safe Philippines project of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), among others.

In 2018, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III signed several agreements with the officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and these include the Metro Manila Subway project, the third phase of the Arterial Road Bypass Project in Bulacan, and the second phase of the Bohol Panglao International Airport project.

Loan agreements with China, in turn, include those for the construction of the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, two drug rehabilitation centers in Sarangani and Agusan del Sur in Mindanao, the Davao River Bridge (Bucana) Project.

The Duterte government has strengthened its ties with these two countries, which in turn, have vowed to support the administration’s massive infrastructure program.

It vowed to increase infrastructure investments to more than seven percent of domestic output by 2022, after noting neglect in public infrastructure in the past.