Philippines to borrow P4B from ADB, OPEC fund

The Philippine government will borrow close to P4 billion from the Asian Development Bank and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) to fund rehabilitation and maintenance of national roads in the country.

A study conducted by the ADB showed that the government would need $130 million (nearly P6 billion) to fund the Road Improvement and Institutional Development Project, of which the ADB and OFID are asked to finance a combined $92 million (or about P4 billion).

In particular, ADB has been asked to shoulder $62 million, while OFID will account for $30 million of the project cost through loans.

The national roads project has already been submitted for approval by ADB’s board of directors.

According to the ADB report, the maintenance and rehabilitation of key roads in the country are vital to the country’s development.

“The project will address the inadequate investment in the national highway network by financing detailed engineering design for improvement of national roads to be implemented under future projects,” ADB said.

The report also cited the need to improve the capacity of concerned government agencies, led by the Department of Public Works and Highways, to manage various infrastructure projects. As such, the project cost will cover capacity development for DPWH.

The ADB report cited the need for better infrastructure in the country to attract more investments needed to create more jobs and reduce poverty incidence.

Various studies showed that poor infrastructure was one of the reasons why the Philippines lagged behind its Southeast Asian neighbors in terms of cornering foreign direct investments.

According to some estimates, infrastructure investments in the Philippines is less than 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product compared with the average 5 percent in the region.