Japan funding for key PH infra deals readied

The Philippines is to seal within the current quarter a loan deal for the initial funding for the Metro Manila Subway Project along with the agreement for the Plaridel Bypass Road in Bulacan, both of which are financed by Japan.

According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the contract for the initial tranche of the 104.5-billion yen ($929.1 million at current exchange rates) loan for the first phase of the subway project and the 9.399-billion yen ($89 million) loan accord for the third phase of the Plaridel Bypass Road Project in Bulacan could be signed by the last week of January.

This is once the Philippine government secures the approvals of the Monetary Board and the special presidential authority, a statement from the finance department explained.

The 15.928-billion yen ($142 million) loan agreement for the flood risk management project in the Cavite industrial area, meanwhile, is targeted for the Monetary Board’s final approval, with the effectivity of the loan targeted on the first week of February 2018, according to the DOF’s International Finance Group in its report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

The project, which aims to control and mitigate flooding in several areas in Cavite that host economic zones and residential communities, stands to benefit some 8,000 households as well as manufacturing plants in the cities of General Trias and Imus and the municipalities of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario. —DAXIM L. LUCAS