Economic team OKs P5.5-B project to modernize Customs

The country’s economic managers on Friday (March 6) approved a P5.5-billion project, partly funded by the World Bank (WB), to make the Bureau of Customs (BOC) a more efficient and modern revenue collection agency.

The National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (Neda ICC-CabCom) approved the Philippines Customs Modernization Project, said Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III after the body’s meeting.

The WB will finance the bulk or 84.5 percent of the project.

WB documents had shown its board was scheduled to approve the $82-million loan this July.

The project was aimed at not only improving the efficiency of the country’s second-biggest revenue agency, but also reducing trade costs in the Philippines, the WB had said.

Also, Dominguez said that of the 100 “flagship” infrastructure projects in the “Build, Build, Build” pipeline, 46 were already being implemented,  up from 32 in 2019.

The Duterte administration can finish 50 of these flagship projects by the time President Rodrigo Duterte steps down in 2022, Dominguez said.

But all 100 projects will be started during this administration, leaving behind a pipeline of 50 projects, worth a total of P2.3 trillion, to the succeeding President, Dominguez said.

Vivencio B. Dizon, presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects, said only 24 of the flagship projects are pending—14 awaiting Neda Board approval and 10 still going through final stages of feasibility studies.

Dizon said the Neda Board, chaired by the President, can approve the 14 projects within 2020 while 10 others could be approved in 2021.

Edited by TSB