Philippines and Japan to discuss infrastructure, economic cooperation

MANILA, Philippines — High-level officials from the Philippines and Japan are set to meet Wednesday in Manila to discuss the Duterte administration’s infrastructure projects which are proposed for financing assistance from Tokyo, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

According to the DOF, a Japanese delegation led by Hiroto Izumi, special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will visit Manila Nov. 21 for the Philippines-Japan High-Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation meeting.

The Philippine side will be chaired by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, and include key members of the government’s Build Build Build infrastructure team.

This will be the sixth meeting of the high-level joint committee since March last year.

 Since its first meeting, the DOF said the committee has made substantial progress in expediting the processing and approval of Japanese loans for projects under the administration’s massive infrastructure initiative.

Just two weeks ago, Manila and Tokyo signed a loan agreement for the rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit-Line 3 (MRT-3), which the DOF described as the fastest loan processing the government has ever completed.

The loan was signed on Nov. 8, only 77 days following the approval given by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board on Aug. 22.

Under the agreement, Japan International Cooperation Agency will provide a ¥38.1 billion (about P18.76 billion or $362 million) loan to partially fund the MRT’s rehabilitation which is estimated to cost P21.96 billion (approximately $413 million).

The loan carries an interest rate of 0.10 percent per annum for non-consulting services and 0.01 percent per annum for consulting services, with a maturity period of 40 years inclusive of a 12-year grace period.

Aside from this, the two countries also signed last October a ¥4.37-billion loan agreement to fund the second phase of the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environmental Protection Project in Panglao Island.

Dominguez said the government had acted swiftly in processing the necessary requirements for the supplemental loan, which took only four months to be formalized.

The DOF also cited the ¥104.53-billion loan extended by Japan for the first phase of the Metro Manila Subway Project, which was processed for six months.