The Japanese government has committed to finance 14 mega infrastructure projects in the Philippines, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Three projects, worth $8.824 billion, will be prioritized by the Duterte administration in the next two years. These are the $4.25-billion Mega Metro Manila Subway System, the $2.67-billion commuter portion of the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) South Line and the $1.9-billion speed-train project to Clark Green City.
“These are mega projects. I would consider these flagship projects. Except the subway in Metro Manila, the two railways to Clark and Los Baños are intended to disperse development away from Metro Manila, which is already suffering from congestion and economies of agglomeration,” Neda Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said on Thursday.
Pernia said the Mega Metro Manila Subway will run from FTI to North Edsa, snaking through Ortigas and Katipunan.
The commuter line of the NSRP will run from Manila to Los Baños, while the speed train to Clark Green City will start from Malolos, Bulacan. The list of 14 projects for
Japan funding also includes the Malitubug-Maridagao irrigation project and the Cavite Industrial Flood Management Project, both still with no cost estimates as of press time.
These projects will be financed by both official development assistance loans and grants. There will be projects that are tied and untied. An aid is “tied” when restrictions are placed on the countries that goods and services may be purchased from, typically
including the donor country and/or another narrowly specified group of countries.
“This is really over five years and many of these projects will not happen in one year. They will undergo FS [feasibility study], engineering design and bidding. There’s still a lot of processes,” Pernia said.
The infrastructure projects were discussed in a meeting between the economic managers and high-level officials from the Japanese government in Tokyo earlier this week.
The economic managers and their Japanese counterparts also signed the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation. This a medium-term engagement entered into by Manila and Tokyo that seeks to deepen infrastructure and economic cooperation between the two governments.