Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines His Excellency Zhao Jinhua vowed to push for more grants for the country for more projects that the Republic of China and the Philippines can jointly explore.
In an interview with the media here after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Barangay Callawa Water System Project donated by the Chinese government through Ambassador Zhao, the envoy said that there are more projects in the country that the Chinese government agreed to support.
“There are several infrastructure projects that we are considering to finance, to undertake in the following years,” Zhao said.
Zhao said that the ¥500 million that President Rodrigo Duterte received when he went to China last month is not enough to finance all the infrastructure projects that his office would like to support.
Some of the projects that the Chinese government will be funding are a new bridge in Davao River, school buildings and many more.
“The money that President Duterte received might cover some of the infrastructure projects but it will not be enough because the ¥500 million will also cover other projects.
“I’m pushing and I hope I can be successful for a new amount of additional grants to cover the projects that we have promised and also some other projects to be presented by the Filipino side,” Zhao said.
Zhao, however, refused to divulge the amount of the additional grant that he is pushing for the Philippines.
One of the big projects that the People’s Republic of China has vowed to support is the 1.5 kilometers Davao City to Island Garden City of Samal bridge that will attract more local and foreign tourists.
Zhao said that they are now pushing for the feasibility study and design that will be approved by National Economic and Development Authority and Investment Coordinating Committee.
“The Davao to Samal bridge will be financed by the Chinese soft loan. Experts from the two sides [Philippines and China] will make the assessment of how much will it cost. But the bridge is only 1.5 km. so it will not be that big,” he said.
Officials said that once the project starts, the maximum years of its construction will be three years.
The Davao City to IGACOS bridge is one of the projects that the two countries agreed to support under the memorandum of Understanding that China and Philippines signed.