Execs grow road-impatient

The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project (NSCRP) and Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 must meet the schedule. While both are in advanced stages of completion, right-of-way (RoW) issues have delayed the projects.

In April 2025, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) urged the swift completion of the projects, citing their importance to commuters and economic growth. This indicated their ongoing concern about finalizing the remaining work.

Skyway Stage 3 is mainly operational, with significant sections open to the public since January 2021. However, some entry and exit ramps and minor infrastructure (e.g., lighting fixtures) are still under construction.

Both projects are delayed relative to their original timelines due to RoW issues and pandemic-related disruptions. The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road is nearing completion, with the final section slated for Q2 2025, while Skyway Stage 3 is mostly operational but awaits the completion of its NLEX Connector link.

Recent stakeholder calls highlight the urgency to complete these projects to maximize their economic and traffic alleviation benefits.

“The significant project currently under construction is the link connecting the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project and the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3. This essential infrastructure will enhance connectivity between the northern and southern provinces, significantly reducing travel time for people, goods, and services, thereby promoting economic growth,” the statement signed by MAP president Al Panlilio and Eduardo Yap, chairperson of the MAP transportation and infrastructure committee, said.

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said civil works for the NSCRP are 69-percent complete, while the right-of-way acquisition is 94-percent done.

The construction of the P12.20-billion NSCRP began in May 2019.

Banking on RE

As reflected in official figures, commercial banks are riding the shift towards renewable energy (RE).

The local financial system recorded zero coal transactions in the past year, the first time in a decade since the Paris Agreement was signed. No gas financing was also tracked in 2024, the first time since the coal moratorium in 2020.

According to the think tank Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), which tracks banks’ exposure to power projects, the financing trend likely reflects the banks’ growing aversion to increasing the fossil fuel industry’s financial, legal and moral risks.

After reaching a record-high financing level in 2023, renewable energy continues to receive support, with $1.28 billion provided to the industry last year. Since the coal moratorium, renewables constituted 67 percent of total energy financing.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala Group and Banco de Oro Unibank of the SM Group are the most prominent renewable energy financiers with $2.3 billion and $1.97 billion, respectively.

Renewable energy financing now totals $5.01 billion in the four years following the coal moratorium, which is more significant than the financing received during the 12 years before the coal moratorium.

Most domestic banks have adopted policies to divest and/or restrict financing for coal, and two new banks will be added in 2025.

Metrobank has set a new position to limit its overall term loan exposure to coal-fired power projects.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Bank has imposed a board restriction on upstream and midstream coal projects.

DBP regresses its coal policy by financing coal-related energy generation or mini-grid rural electrification projects. AUB continues to categorize the funding of a gas project under climate sustainability.

China Bank, EastWest, and MetroBank improved their disclosures of the Sustainable Finance Framework and the Environmental and Social Risk Management Systems.

The tail end of 2024 and the start of the new year saw critical policy and regulatory developments that are favorable to the fossil fuels industry — the Department of Energy’s pronouncement that the coal moratorium does not cover 20 gigawatts of proposed coal capacity; the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of several long-term coal and fossil gas power supply agreements; and the enactment of the Philippine Natural Gas Industry Development Act.