DPWH seeks help of BCDA on infra projects

The department of Public Works and Highways has asked the Bases Conversion and Development Authority to help it with the implementation of various infrastructure projects to help fast-track the process and complete more projects.

BCDA Chairman Felicito Payumo said the agency’s participation in infrastructure projects would not necessarily involve monetary outlays.

“[Public Works Secretary Rogelio] Singson asked us to be part of infrastructure projects in support of the President’s program. We won’t necessarily fund the projects. We’ll just take the lead in bidding the projects out and making the private sector undertake them,” Payumo said.

Examples of key infrastructure projects that the BCDA could help implement include two proposed railway systems: one connecting Metro Manila to the Clark Special Economic Zone and another linking the central business districts of Makati, Taguig and Pasay.

“We can help drum up private sector interest for those projects,” Payumo said.

BCDA president and chief executive Arnel Casanova earlier said the agency was in talks with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) for the implementation of these projects.

The two railway lines also figured in BCDA’s plan to boost special economic zones in Luzon, he said. These could likewise help decongest some high-traffic areas in the metropolis.

Like those two DoTC projects, infrastructure projects to be undertaken by the DPWH could also be spearheaded by the BCDA, Payumo said. In some instances, BCDA could even be an equity partner for such projects.

Casanova said the BCDA was also preparing to bid out the construction of a budget terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport inside the Clark freeport in Pampanga.

The project falls under the jurisdiction of the state-run Clark International Airport Corp.