New DOF, NEDA buildings ready to start construction

MANILA, Philippines – Construction of two new government agency buildings are scheduled to begin during the first year of the Duterte administration, officials said.

First in line is the new 20-story building for the Department of Finance in Roxas Boulevard, whose blueprint and design are expected to be approved over the next two weeks.

“After that, bidding procedures may commence. Our target is to start construction by the second half of the year,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said in a phone interview.

The building will be situated beside the present one, which has six floors. under the plan, the new office will house the Office of the Secretary as well as those of the commissioners of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Customs.

It will also house a cash management system for the Bureau of the Treasury as well as the DOF’s IT services. It is expected to be completed in two years.

DOF oversees BIR, Customs and Treasury as revenue agencies. The building was earlier reported to cost P4.5 billion to be sourced from the DOF budget.

“We already secured a MYOA for it even before the start of the drafting of the design,” Beltran said.

A MYOA or a multi-year obligational authority allows government agencies to undertake projects that take more than a year to complete. It assures availability of funds on succeeding budgets.

Aside from the new DOF building, MYOA has also been already issued for the new central office of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the P2.68-billion building will be constructed from 2017 to 2020. 

“The proposed project...is the construction of a modern 15-story office building that will house some 999 employees of the NEDA central office as well as attached agencies...,” DBM said in a statement. 

NEDA oversees the Public-Private Partnership Center, Tariff Commission and the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency.

For this year, NEDA was allotted P20 million to cover payments for the design and engineering of the building.

Funds for construction will be allocated beginning 2017 with P573.9 million. This will rise to P592.9 million in 2018, P747.7 million in 2019 and P769.4 million in 2020.

The current NEDA central office is located in Ortigas in Pasig City.