Philippine Star, 29 January 2013
MANILA, Philippines – Four big-ticket infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) program totaling more than P80 billion have been approved.
PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the Plaridel bypass toll road project, Manila-Makati-Pasay-Parañaque mass transit system, rehabilitation and expansion of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) South, and the Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline are among the priority projects of the Aquino administration for 2013.
With the approval by the board of the Project Development and Monitoring Facility, the four projects would be entitled to PDMF funds sourced from grants under official development assistance (ODA).
The funds are intended for project identification,
feasibility studies, master planning at local and regional levels, and monitoring and evaluation.
“Our directive for this year is help implementing agencies to carry out what is dubbed as ambitious projects that will have a massive and positive impact on the country’s economy,” Canilao said.
The 24.61-kilometer Plaridel bypass toll toad project entails the conversion of the bypass road into a toll highway. The project will involve road expansion, construction of additional interchanges, flyovers, toll plazas and other miscellaneous works.
To be constructed under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Plaridel bypass road will stretch from the Balagtas interchange in North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) to San Rafael.
Once completed, it will traverse five Bulacan municipalities, namely: Balagtas, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Bustos, and San Rafael.
The Manila-Makati-Pasay-Parañaque Mass Transit System is intended to interconnect the four cities starting from the C5-32nd Street roadway to EDSA-Buendia-Makati Avenue-Ayala Triangle-Buendia roads, crossing the Philippine National Railways Buendia station, LRT 1 Buendia station to CCP complex and Mall of Asia to EDSA Ayala to form a loop up to Makati Ayala Triangle.
The long-overdue development and upgrade of the PNR railway systems will fall under the Department of Transportation and Communications’ (DOTC) proposed PNR North and South Lines Development and Extension Project.
It will cover the entire PNR Mainline North and South Lines, including branch lines in Tarlac-San Jose in the north, and Calamba-Batangas in the south.
There are also plans to extend the north line to Cagayan.
An important feature of the project is the possible revival of freight operations.
The project is in line with the DOTC’s objective of providing convenient, affordable and environment-friendly alternative transportation for people and their goods.
With the aim of reducing the country’s dependence on oil, the Philippine National Oil Co. is gearing up to develop the natural gas industry of the country by building a series of network pipelines in Luzon.
Initially, a 105-km transmission pipeline under the Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline Project I (BatMan I) will be constructed to transport and supply natural gas to targeted markets located in the high growth areas of Batangas, Laguna, Cavite and eventually to Metro Manila.
Included in the project is the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving plant as well as the installation of compressor stations, metering stations, valves and control stations, among others.
The Philippines currently imports more than 90 percent of its fuel requirements.
These projects are expected to address the country’s economic, energy and environmental challenges, the PPP Center said.
