JICA extends P12.4-B loan for 2 major infra projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has extended a ¥33.689-billion (approximately P12.4 billion) loan for two major infrastructure projects in the Philippines.

The two projects are the Davao City Bypass Construction Project and the Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project.

The Davao City Bypass Construction Project, with a cost of roughly P8.7 billion, would improve accessibility to main infrastructure facilities and mitigating congestion in Davao City by introducing the Philippines’ first long distance tunnel construction.

According to the JICA report, the project aims to improve transport logistics and mitigate traffic congestions by constructing about 30 kilometers of bypass road including a long-tunnel structure in Davao City, the biggest economic center of Mindanao.

 “Japan, as one of the leading countries in tunnel construction technology, will fully support this first long-tunnel construction project in the Philippines,” it said.

The Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project, with a cost of approximately P3.59 billion, would replace and strengthen the Guadalupe and Lambingan bridges utilizing improved bridge seismic design standard.

The project aims to strengthen the resilience of transport network in the occurrence of large-scale earthquakes by replacing and/or reinforcing the two major bridges in Metro Manila and contribute to a more secure and sustainable economic development in the Philippine capital.

“Japanese technology and experience of seismic countermeasures is going to be utilized in this project,” it said.

JICA extends official development assistance (ODA) loans to both projects under special terms for economic partnership or STEP terms.

STEP is extended to a project for which Japanese technologies and know-how will be substantially utilized, based on a partner country’s request to utilize and transfer the technologies.

JICA, together with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), completed last year the Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas in a move to ease traffic in Metro Manila and promote development in nearby growth areas.

The Roadmap outlines short and long-term components, citing the need to boost infrastructure development such as a new gateway airport, improved road networks and expressways, integrated urban mass-transit network in Metro Manila and road-based public transport modernization, as well as the need to improve “soft” components such as traffic management systems.