SMC’s Bulacan airport offer, 8 other projects up for NEDA Board’s approval

MANILA, Philippines — Nine big-ticket infrastructure projects, including a P700-billion offer to build and operate an international airport outside the capital, are now up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval, the National Economic and Development Authority said Tuesday.

Among the nine projects recently approved by the Cabinet-level NEDA Investment Coordination Committee are San Miguel Corp.’s Bulacan airport proposal, the 100-kilometer Clark-Subic railway, additional bridges across Pasig River and the conversion of National Development Company’s 25-hectare property into an agro-industrial complex in Davao City.

The nine projects are cumulatively worth around P900 billion and will be forwarded to the NEDA Board, which is chaired by Duterte, for confirmation.

Also up for the Duterte-chaired body’s approval is the draft 11th Foreign Investment Negative List, which is touted as the most liberalized so far.

“So you will see things more visible as we move on in the next couple of months,” Economic Planning Undersecretary Rolando Tungpalan told a news conference.

“All told, there is a commitment to get these substantially completed,” he added.

Unlike its predecessor, the Duterte administration is more welcoming of unsolicited proposals, while criticizing the slow progress of public-private partnership initiatives.

Once approved, unsolicited proposals like San Miguel’s offer to build a Bulacan airport will undergo a Swiss challenge system, whereby third parties can submit competing offers while the original proponent will be given the right to match these offers.