China eyes PH airport funding

China is interested to finance an airport project in the Philippines, while San Miguel Corp.’s proposal to build an “aerotropolis” in Bulacan will soon be up for President Duterte’s approval, the National Economic and Development Authority said Tuesday.

Neda Undersecretary Rolando G. Tungpalan told reporters that among the “second basket” of infrastructure projects to be pitched for Chinese financing included an airport, in which China itself earlier expressed interest, but he did not disclose details.

Tungpalan added that the Chinese side might also be tapped to finance the construction of 10 more bridges crossing the Pasig River in Metro Manila, which was approved for official development assistance (ODA) financing by the Neda Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CabCom) last month.

The 10 bridges, worth a total of P27.4 billion, will be built by the Department of Public Works and Highways to cross the Pasig and Marikina rivers as well as the Manggahan Floodway. These are the North and South Harbor Bridge; Palanca-Villegas Bridge; Beata-F.Y. Manalo Bridge; Blumentritt-Antipolo Bridge; Mercury-Evangelista Bridge; JP Rizal-St. Mary Bridge; JP Rizal-Lopez Jaena Bridge; Marikina-Vista Real Bridge; East Bank-West Bank Bridge 1, and East Bank-West Bank Bridge 2.

The Department of Finance last month said that the Philippine and Chinese governments were set to sign by midyear the loan agreements for the three big-ticket infrastructure projects to be financed by the mainland under its “first basket” of projects, namely the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s P10.9-billion New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam, the National Irrigation Administration’s P2.7-billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Facility and the Department of Transportation’s P151-billion Philippine National Railways-South Long-Haul Railway.

Last March 28, during another Neda ICC-CabCom meeting, the committee also approved two more projects, including SMC’s unsolicited proposal for a P700-billion new international aerotropolis involving a massive airport covering 1,168 hectares as well as a city complex to be built on a 2,500-hectare location along Manila Bay in Bulakan town, Tungpalan said.