THE National Economic and Development Authority board’s Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) has given the go-signal for the construction and funding of more than P63.33 billion worth of infrastructure projects.

NEDA said on Tuesday it gave the green light for the P14.97-billion Pasacao-Balatan Coastal Tourism Highway, a four-lane, 40.69-kilometer coastal tourism highway along the west coast of Camarines Sur that will provide access and direct link between the municipalities of Pasacao and Balatan.

The project will be developed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, funds for which will be sourced from the General Appropriations Act.

The committee also approved the proposed P7.42-billion Aqueduct No. 7, which will involve detailed engineering design and construction of a steel aqueduct to provide operational flexibility to the raw water transmission from Ipo Dam to La Mesa Dam. It will be implemented by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System under the Expanded Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project, with the extension of implementation period until July 2023.

Also approved was the P11.46-billion additional financing for the Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility, to be funded through a loan with the Asian Development Bank.

The additional funds are seen to scale up the existing facility to further strengthen the quality of priority infrastructure project proposals and accelerate early project implementation following the ICC approval through the conduct of detailed engineering design and tender support, and strengthen the capacity of key agencies responsible for infrastructure projects.

The Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) P27.92-billion proposal to support parcelization of lands for individual titling also obtained the NEDA’s approval. This will hasten the subdivision of collective land ownership award and generation of individual titles.

DAR’s project will be funded through a World Bank loan.

The Department of Finance’s P1.56-billion Local Government Reform Sector Development Project, on the other hand, was also accepted. It aims to strengthen the policy and administrative environment for enhancing local source revenues from real property tax by instituting reforms in real property valuation and assessment.

The ICC-CC also approved the Development Objective Assistance Agreement: Improved Health for Underserved Filipinos between the Department of Health and the US Government through the United States Agency for International Development.

This will focus on the country’s priority health concerns such as tuberculosis, family planning, maternal and child health, and improving governance mechanisms that have bearing on the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act.

Lastly, a two-year extension of the World Bank loan validity for the Philippine Rural Development Project of the Department of Agriculture, from 31 May 2021 to 31 May 2023, was also approved by the ICC-CC.

This is together with a one-year extension for each of the five existing bilateral agreements between the governments of the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America covering the areas of Economic Growth and Democracy and Governance, Basic Education, Health, Mindanao Peace and Development, and Environment, Water, and Climate Change.

All projects have been cleared during the NEDA ICC meeting last week.

Apart from the said projects, NEDA also announced last week that it has approved the P102-billion proposal to rehabilitate the long-congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport.