PH gets $50-M Korean loan for infra project preparation

More water projects, flood control and irrigation facilities as well as bridges and roads will be built by the government with the help of a $50-million loan from South Korea that will finance the preparation of big-ticket infrastructure projects before their rollout.

The newest loan obtained by Manila from Seoul’s $1-billion financing commitment will be used for the Philippines-Korea Project Preparation Facility, which Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III on Tuesday said would support the swift implementation of infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, National Irrigation Administration and other relevant agencies.“The infusion of resources will enhance our ability to undertake project preparatory activities in a timely and efficient manner, while drawing on the best available expertise,” Dominguez said during the ceremonial signing of the loan facility with Export-Import Bank of Korea.

The facility will cost $71 million, or P3.87 billion, of which the bulk worth P2.73 billion will come from the South Korean loan.The loan has a 40-year repayment period on top of a 10-year grace period and zero interest rate. The service charges will cost only a tenth of 1 percent

of every disbursement, Dominguez said.

“Our infrastructure agencies are poised to execute hundreds of infrastructure projects all over the country in the next few months. We realize the amount of work required and the magnitude of costs incurred in what are called ‘project preparatory activities,’ [which] include prefeasibility and feasibility studies, detailed engineering designs and safeguard assessment analyses,” Dominguez noted.

“These are necessary and integral aspects of any project as they help us determine whether a particular project is economically viable and sustainable over the long term and, ultimately, whether the Filipino people will reap the economic benefits and outweigh the public resources that the government might invest. Rigorous analyses also guide us in determining the best sources of financing for any given project,” the finance chief added.

“When the Duterte administration came in, we inherited a P50-billion pipeline. When we leave in 2022, we’ll have P1.4 trillion—that is our legacy to the next administration,” according to Dominguez. INQ