NEDA committee OK’s LRT Line 2 extension, 4 other projects
The Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) of the country’s highest development planning and policy coordinating body has approved five projects on transportation, infrastructure and health worth P32.67
billion, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a statement Monday.
These are the Light Railway Transit (LRT) Line 2 East Extension Project; modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center; upgrading and rehabilitation of the Navotas Fish Port Complex; Bridge
Construction Acceleration Project for Calamity-Stricken Areas Phase II; and the National Roads Bridge Placement Project (NRBPP).
The LRT Line 2 East Extension Project of the Department of Transportation and Communications involves the design and construction of a 4.19-kilometer extension from the existing Santolan Station to Masinag Junction (intersection of Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway).
Two stations will be built at Emerald Drive, Cainta, Rizal (in front of Robinson’s Place Metro East), and Masinag Junction, Antipolo City.
“The project will provide rapid and reliable mode of transit to the east of Manila and to various strategic commercial, industrial and educational districts in Metro Manila,” NEDA Deputy Director General Rolando G. Tungpalan said.
The extension will bring the total length of the LRT Line 2 to 16.75 kilometers.
A public-private partnership project, the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center involves the construction of a 700-bed tertiary orthopedic hospital within the National Kidney and Transplant Institute Complex in Quezon City.
The P5.69-billion project, to be implemented by the Department of Health, covers the supply, installation, operation and management of modern diagnostics equipment and IT facilities.
The upgrade and rehabilitation of the Navotas Fish Port Complex will improve the port’s facilities and services. The fish port is one of the National Capital Region’s major fish landing facility that contributes an annual average of 80 percent to the region’s total fish supply.
It covers the upgrading of the landing quay and market halls; establishment of cold storage facilities; conversion of piers to wharf landing and installation of a wastewater treatment facility. The project, which is estimated to cost P2.7 billion, will be implemented by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority of the Department of Agriculture.
The Department of Public Works and Highways’ Bridge Construction Acceleration Project for Calamity-Stricken Areas Phase II will be funded by the government of Austria. It involves the construction and replacement of 66 temporary bridges with steel structures across the country’s 15 regions.
This project, with an approved cost of P6.12 billion, will aid the government’s target of building 7,958 permanent bridges by the end of 2016.
A similar project is the UK-funded NRBRP, which involves the construction and replacement of 133 bridges across the country, using prefabricated double lane modular steel bridges from the United Kingdom.
The ICC CabCom’s approval of these five projects will be endorsed to the NEDA board for its confirmation, the NEDA said.
The NEDA board, chaired by President Aquino, comprises various Cabinet secretaries, the president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and the deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The ICC, one of the seven interagency committees of the NEDA board, evaluates the fiscal, monetary and balance-of-payments implications of major national projects. The ICC’s powers and functions reside in its
CabCom, which is headed by the country’s finance secretary. The ICC is supported by an interagency technical board, with NEDA as ICC secretariat.
Originally posted at 04:10 pm | Monday, May 21, 2012
