NEDA joint panel Oks 12 projects worth P626B
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2019 17:29:31 +0000
TWELVE infrastructure and transportation projects worth P626.11 billion will be up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s nod after gaining approval from a joint committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Friday.
In a briefing at the Department of Finance’s headquarters in Manila, Vivencio Dizon, president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, said among those approved by NEDA’s Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee were the unsolicited operate-add-transfer proposals for the Davao International Airport and Laguindingan Airport; the Metro Rail Transit 4 and EDSA Greenways projects; the Maritime Safety Enhancement Program; and the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project.
Also approved were the Cebu-Mactan Bridge (fourth bridge) and Coastal Road Construction Project (New Mactan Bridge Construction Project); the Davao City Coastal Bypass Road, including the Bucana Bridge Project; the Capas-Botolan Road Project; and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project.
Completing the list were the Davao City Bypass Construction Project-Second Change in Scope and Cost and Supplemental Loan, and the Samar-Pacific Coastal Road Project-Loan Validity and Implementation Extension and Increase in Cost.
According to Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, hastening the implementation of the approved projects are crucial to the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
“We 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,” Villar said.
“They are good to go and we can expect implementation to start sooner than later,” he added.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said the approved projects would buck up the pipeline of projects for the next administration.
“We will start as many as possible and it will be ready to be picked up the next administration. So we are presenting the Filipino nation with a robust pipeline,” he said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, meanwhile, said the government was “well under way to covering most of the items in the new list of flagship projects,” which includes airports, bridges, highways and other ports, water ports and seaports.
Large-scale infrastructure development is a priority for the current administration under Build, Build, Build.
Through the program, to be backed by a budget that could reach P8 trillion to 9 trillion, the Duterte administration aims to usher in a “Golden Age of Infrastructure.”