NEDA approves more than P400B worth of projects

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced on Tuesday that it has approved government developments such as a public-private partnership (PPP) project, six new projects, and the financing extension of another project, with an estimated valuation totaling at least P413.33 billion.

In a statement, the NEDA said that the projects – which were approved on 27 September, include the government projects which concerns expansion and facility building that aims to improve the country’s infrastructures.

Among the projects that were approved were the additional financing for the P11.46 billion Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility which will be funded through a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to further expand and improve the quality of priority infrastructure project proposals and the P7.42 billion Aqueduct No. 7 (AQ-7) which involves the detailed engineering design and construction of a steel aqueduct to provide the operational flexibility of raw water transmission from Ipo Dam to the La Mesa Dam.

The agency also approved the Development Objective Assistance Agreement which is a joint project of the Department of Health (DoH) and the US Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the World Bank loan validity extension for Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) which was extended for two years to 31 May 2023 from the original 31 May 2021.

The NEDA also greenlighted the P1.56-billion Local Governance Reform Sector Development which is expected 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.

It also gave the go signal to the P350-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) build-operate-transfer program that aims to upgrade, rehabilitate, and expand NAIA by improving and expanding the terminals and developing an additional runway, taxiways and passenger terminals.

NEDA also highlighted the P14.97-billion Pasacao-Balatan Coastal Tourism Highway that involves the construction of a 40.69-kilometer, four-lane coastal tourism highway along the west coast of Camarines Sur, while the P27.92-billion support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling was also approved and will be funded through a World Bank loan to hasten the subdivision of Collective Land Ownership award and generation of individual titles done by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).