MANILA, Philippines — A total of 206 big-ticket projects that can help the Marcos administration achieve its targets of sustained economic growth, increased employment and reduced poverty are under review by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Malacañang said yesterday.
NEDA will come up with a final list of major projects under the Marcos administration by the end of the first quarter of 2023 following the release recently of seven high-impact projects this week, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement.
“So far, there are 206 in the list. And that’s just for what we will call flagship. That could still be trimmed down... We’re looking at the viability of these,” the PCO said, quoting NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon at a media forum yesterday.
Edillon said the socioeconomic planning body is currently vetting a list of around 3,000 projects until 2028, the end of President Marcos’ term.
She said the list would be uploaded on the NEDA website by the end of the first quarter.
Edillon said the government projects will be funded through various schemes such as public private partnership (PPP), grants and government allocation.
In implementing PPP projects, Edillon said the administration would focus on solicited PPPs, or those well-crafted and vetted projects.
Earlier, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan revealed seven high-impact projects approved by the NEDA Board, chaired by the President.
These include the establishment of a 300-bed University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) Cancer Center, increasing the cost of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 or MRT-3 rehabilitation project, utilization of the Japan International Cooperation Agency loan balance for the new Communications, Navigation, Surveillance-Air Traffic Management system and the construction of the new Dumaguete Airport Development Project.
Also approved by the NEDA Board are the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project and the Department of Public Works and Highways’ P20-billion first phase of the Integrated Flood Resilience and adaptation project in three major river basins in the country.
Balisacan earlier said the P6-billion UP-PGH cancer center is the first PPP funded project under the present administration.