Duterte, Abe may witness signing of deals for other Philippine infra projects this year: Diokno

June 27, 2018

The Philippines and Japan may sign agreements for other infrastructure projects by November in the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday.

In his regular forum in Manila, Diokno said there was a plan for Duterte to visit Tokyo or for Abe to go to Manila to witness signing of the deals for the major Philippine projects to be funded by Japan.

"The signing of the other projects, I understand that they are talking of sometime in November. I think either the President will go there or the Prime Minister will go (here) in November," he said.

But Diokno added forging of the agreements might also take place at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Singapore in November.

Aside from the Metro Manila Subway Project, whose loan agreement for the initial phase had been signed in March, the Philippines is seeking funding from Japan for other major rails, road and flood control projects.

These include the Philippine North Rail North 1, PNR North 2, PNR South Commuter, Metro Rail Transit 3 Rehabilitation and Maintenance, Circumferential Road 3 Project, Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project (Phase IV), and Dalton Pass East Alignment Project.

The Philippines and Japan recently concluded the fifth high-level meeting in Tokyo.  Diokno participated in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Diokno said the planned construction for the subway project was "on track."

Since it would not be possible to build the entire 15 stations during the Duterte administration, he said the target of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade is to construct the first three stations.

He said the launching of the project will take place either in the fourth quarter this year or at the latest, first quarter next year.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Department of Finance signed last March the 104.53-billion yen loan assistance supporting the initial construction of the country's first subway.

The entire 25-kilometer subway project has an estimated total cost of 800-billion yen. Celerina Monte/DMS