MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is looking to approve over $1 billion worth of financing to support projects in the Philippines this year, including the North-South Commuter Railway, as well as initiatives in the social and health sectors.
Pavit Ramachandran, ADB country director for the Philippines told reporters that among those up for approval by the multilateral lender this year is financing for the North-South Commuter Railway Project, particularly the Malolos-Clark component, which “will be upwards of a billion.”
The North-South Commuter Railway is a railway network linking the regional center of Clark in Central Luzon with Metro Manila and Calamba, Laguna.
“The North-South Commuter Rail is an important investment, something we’re committed to support. So that will be one of the projects. So it’s an ongoing investment, but the next tranche of investment has to be approved,” Ramachandran said.
Apart from the North-South Commuter Railway Project, he said the ADB is also looking at around $300 million to $400 million to support some social sector projects, including the food voucher program.
In addition, he said the ADB is looking to provide support to projects in the health sector.
He said the ADB has yet to finalize the details of its lending program for the Philippines for this year.
“We haven’t done what we call our programming mission. So that will happen perhaps toward the end of March, April, where we will sit down with the government and other stakeholders and discuss the details of individual projects, the total,” he said.
Earlier this year, the ADB approved a $500-million loan for the Business and Employment Recovery Program – Subprogram 2, to support the Philippines in pursuing reforms and initiatives to equip the country’s workforce with the necessary skills to meet the evolving requirements of industries.
Last month, the ADB also approved a $500-million policy-based loan for the Second Disaster Resilience Improvement Program to help the Philippines strengthen disaster resilience and response.
In September last year, the ADB released its new country partnership strategy (CPS) for the Philippines for 2024 to 2029, making $24 billion in lending available to support development initiatives.
The focus of the new CPS is on human development, economic competitiveness and quality infrastructure, as well as boosting nature-based development and disaster resilience.