Gov't to build elevated highway to NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board has approved for implementation phase 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Expressway project and the National Sewerage and Septage Management Program that are worth more than P42 billion, Malacañang announced yesterday.

The NEDA Board, chaired by President Aquino, met on Wednesday in Malacañang to discuss eight projects but the board approved only two.

The expressway project would cost P15.8 billion while the sewerage and septage program, still in pilot phase, is worth P26.3 billion.

Two weeks ago, the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC CabCom) of the NEDA Board approved five projects on transportation, infrastructure and health worth P32.67 billion aimed at building and rehabilitating vital infrastructure such as roads, bridges and hospitals.

The NEDA Board is the country’s highest development planning and policy coordinating body. The board is comprised of various Cabinet secretaries, the president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The ICC, one of the interagency committees of the NEDA Board, evaluates the fiscal, monetary and balance-of-payments implications of major national projects.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the sewerage and septage project would be a co-financing or a co-sharing project with the local government units.

She said the President had some questions and wanted more documentation on the other projects.

Valte said the bidding for the projects were on track and could be started as soon as approved.

At least 10 national government projects worth P56.79 billion were set be confirmed at the NEDA meeting on Wednesday.

On the list are three bridge projects, three public-private partnership (PPP) projects, two agriculture-related projects, a railway project that will be funded by the government and a project that is set to receive a grant from the US government.

The three bridge projects are the P6.12-billion Bridge Construction Acceleration Project for Calamity-Stricken Areas Phase II to be funded by the Austrian government; the P8.4-billion National Roads Bridge Placement Project funded by the United Kingdom; and the P3.19-billion Spanish-Assisted Bridge Construction-Replacement Project.

The three PPP projects, meanwhile, are the P453-million Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Project Phase II; the P5-billion NAIA Expressway project (Phase II); and the P15.77-billion Philippine Orthopedic Center.

The two agriculture-related projects are the P2.7-billion Upgrading and Rehabilitation Project of the Navotas Fish Port Complex and the $123.96-million (P5.4-billion) Mindanao Rural Development Program.

Other projects that may be included are the P9.76-billion Light Railway Transit Line 2 East Extension Project and a project that is set to receive a grant from the United States Agency for International Development. Socioeconomic Planning

Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said with the approval of the project, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the agency tasked to implement the project, is now ready to bid out the service contract of the 5.2-kilometer road.

“It has been approved by the NEDA Board so they (DPWH) can now proceed with the bidding,” Balisacan told reporters during yesterday’s press briefing on the National Income Accounts.

The NAIA project is a four-lane elevated expressway, which will start from Sales Street going to Andrews Avenue, Domestic Road and which will end at Roxas Boulevard.

The DPWH said the expressway would also include the construction of a toll plaza and five on and off ramps.

According to the original schedule, the detailed design and construction of the project will run from this year to 2015.

Valte said the expressway would provide connectivity to airport terminals 1, 2 and 3.

Balisacan said there are other infrastructure projects that were discussed during the meeting but were not approved yet because of some details that still need to be threshed out.

He said the NEDA Board is planning to meet regularly to be able to approve more projects and at a faster pace.

“We expect to meet more regularly so these things will move faster,” said Balisacan, who took over the socioeconomic portfolio after Cayetano Paderanga Jr. resigned early this month for health reasons.

The Aquino administration hopes to have at least 22 infrastructure projects under the government’s PPP program processed by the end of 2012, the new NEDA chief said.

“These projects are intended to improve transportation connectivity, boost agricultural productivity, increase water service areas and raise the quality of education and health,” Balisacan said. – With Iris Gonzales