By Macon Ramos-Araneta, March 6 2019; Manila Standard
Image Credit to ABS-CBN News
Twenty-eight projects worth P319 billion out of the 75 big-ticket projects worth P2.17 trillion under the government’s massive Build, Build, Build program are scheduled to be completed by 2022, a government official told the Senate Tuesday.The remaining projects would be finished after the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, said National Economic and Development Authority Assistant Secretary Jonathan Uy.Uy said originally, 31 projects were supposed to be completed by 2022, but three—including the Mindanao Rail project—were subject to further review.He also told the Senate committee chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian that 47 out of the 75 flagship projects are now under various stages of implementation; 16 are in the process of budgeting and appropriation, 19 are under detailed engineering and procurement; and 11 are under construction.At the same hearing, Senator Nancy Binay said the government should ensure that the jobs generated from these projects should go to Filipinos.
Gatchalian urged NEDA to be transparent in the loan agreements being entered into by the Philippones to allay doubts of corruption. He said details of these loans cannot be seen even in the agency’s website.The NEDA official said the loans from Japan carried low interest rates.He added that 50 percent of the projects under the Build, Build, Build program were made through loans from Japan, while 30 percent were made through loans from China.The funding for the remaining projects were loans from the Asian Development Bank.