MANILA, Philippines – Two major infrastructure projects in the energy and transport sectors have been given the green light.
However, the Cabinet level National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) has deferred approval of two other Public-Private Partnership (PPP) transport projects on the agenda.
In a meeting yesterday, the ICC approved the P10.528-billion Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) and the P6.403-billion C-5 Modern Bus Transit System Project of the Department of the Transportation and Communications (DOTC), PPP Center deputy executive director Eleazar Ricote told The STAR in a text message.
“Both will be elevated to the NEDA Board for confirmation,” he said.
The PNOC’s BatMan 1 Natural Gas Pipeline Project is the only energy-related project under the administration’s flagship PPP program.
It involves the construction of a 121-kilometer transmission pipeline from Batangas to Metro Manila.
The C-5 Modern Bus Transit System Project will link the cities of Parañaque, Taguig, Makati, Quezon City and Valenzuela through a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system along C-5 Road.
Two other projects on the agenda, the P50.15-billion Ortigas-Taytay LRT Line 4 and the P74.56-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Development, were “not tackled for lack of time,” Ricote said.
“They will be tackled in the next ICC meeting,” he said.
The Ortigas-Taytay LRT Line 4 Project will ease traffic and commuter travel in the eastern portion of Metro Manila through an 11-kilometer railway from SM City in Taytay to the intersection of Ortigas Avenue and EDSA in Quezon City.
The NAIA development project will improve, upgrade and enhance the efficiency of existing terminals of NAIA to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
The administration aims to cap its term with 15 awarded PPP contracts.
Since 2010, it has awarded nine PPP projects with a total indicative cost of P136.37 billion.
These include the Daang Hari-South Luzon expressway link road (P2 billion), PPP for School Infrastructure Project phase 1 (P8.86 billion), the PSIP-2 (P16.28 billion), the modernization project for the Philippine Orthopedic Center (P5.98 billion), the Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway (P15.52 billion), the automated fare collection system project (P1.72 billion), the Mactan–Cebu international airport expansion project (P17.5 billion), the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension project (P65 billion) and the Integrated Transport System ITS-Southwest Terminal (P3.15 billion).
