ODA utilization improves in Q3

Utilization of the country’s official development assistance (ODA) has improved three-fold with total disbursements reaching $62.13 million in the third quarter from $23.76 million in the second quarter.

In a memorandum to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dante B. Canlas said it can be inferred that the approval of the contracts in the second quarter may have contributed to the improvement in the total actual disbursement for projects funded by the Japan Bank for International Corporation, Asian Development Bank, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

However, only 27 projects or 15 percent of the total 149 ongoing ODA loans for this year have contracts noted approved by the NEDA board under Administrative Order 7.

The latest NEDA board notation approval this week involved 22 contracts, eight of which are ODA-funded amounting to P1.78 billion.

Meanwhile, the NEDA board recently gave its go-signal to the construction and installation of water treatment facilities in the provinces and the development of centers of excellence in modern manufacturing technology.

The P1-billion water quality project covers the water districts of Pangasinan, Cagayan, Laguna, Capiz, Iloilo, Leyte and North Cotabato.

The Japan-funded project will include the rehabilitation of well pumps, disinfection facilities, pump houses, and procurement of laboratory equipment for water analyses.

The P992-million project on manpower development, on the other hand, will develop existing training centers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) into centers of excellence in modern manufacturing technology by equipping them with computer numerically controlled machines.

According to NEDA, the Austrian-funded project will develop quality workers for the manufacturing sector who will be skilled in modern technologies.

The NEDA board also approved the extension of the validity of the Korean grant for the Korean-Philippines Friendship Hospital in Cavite and the European Union grant for the construction of La Union Provincial Hospital.

The awarding of the garbage contract to the Pro-Environment Consortium by the Metro Manila Development Authority was also confirmed by the NEDA board.