Philippine, Chinese officials meet to speed up implementation of China-funded projects
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials last Wednesday met their counterparts in Beijing in a bid to fast-track the implementation of China-backed projects in the Philippines.
"We came to China to coordinate with our counterparts and ensure that our priority projects will be rolled-out and completed as planned," Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in a statement.
"We appreciate all the help we can get with our ambitious ‘Build, Build, Build’ program," he added.
Some of projects discussed in the meeting were the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, the Kaliwa Dam Project, the North-South Railway Project-South Line (Long Haul), the Subic-Clark Railway Project and the Safe Philippines Project Phase 1.
“Under the guidance of President Duterte, we have been working very hard to achieve both the goals of President [Rodrigo] Duterte and President Xi Jinping in the development of the relationship between China and the Philippines,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said in a separate statement.
President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to upgrade the country’s dilapidated and aging infrastructure through his administration’s P9 trillion “Build, Build, Build” program. He has courted regional rivals China and Japan to help foot the bill for the construction boom.
But Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier said some projects funded through official development assistance “are not moving as fast as we had expected” due to “bureaucracy” in donor countries. Dominguez later stressed the Philippines’ ODA partners follow “tedious” processes before help can reach the recipient country.
ODA loans are cheaper sources of financing as they carry lower interest rates than lending rates imposed by commercial banks. ODAs also have longer grace and repayment periods.
To avoid delays and higher project costs, the Duterte administration has shifted from public-private partnership as the primary mode of financing and has relied more on public funding and ODA.
Data from the Department of Finance show 10 of the 75 flagship infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration are set to begin implementation in the second half of this year.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the Philippine delegation will also meet with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the China International Development Cooperation Agency and the Export-Import Bank of China to explore additional avenues of cooperation, economic aid and investments.
As a follow up to the high-level meetings, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit the Philippines in November 2018. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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