The National Economic and Development Authority is vetting a total of 206 major projects and is expected to come up with a final list by the end of the first quarter.
NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said the initial 206 are only the administration’s “flagship projects” included in a much longer list of about 3,000 more programs that span up until 2028.
Edillon said this number could still be trimmed down depending on a project’s viability and cost-effectiveness.
“We will come up with the list. It will be uploaded on the NEDA website by the end of this first quarter,” she said in a press forum Saturday.
The socioeconomic planning official said these government projects will be funded through various schemes such as public-private partnership (PPP), grants, and government allocation.
In implementing PPP projects, Edillon said the administration will focus on solicited PPPs, or those well-crafted and vetted projects, which could help the government achieve its targets of economic growth, increased employment and poverty reduction.
The NEDA Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., recently approved seven “high-impact” projects, which include the construction of a 300-bed capacity cancer center in Manila, increasing the funding for the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) rehabilitation project, the utilization of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan balance for the new Communications, Navigation, Surveillance-Air Traffic Management (CNS-ATM) system, and the construction of new Dumaguete Airport Development Project.
Transportation Assistant Secretary Leonel Cray De Velez, in the same forum, said the P7.6-billion funding for the Metro Rail Transit-3 would support the maintenance and “additional rehabilitation” needed to sustain the train system.
Meanwhile, other projects approved or confirmed by the NEDA board include the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIDP), and the Department of Public Works and Highways P20-billion first phase of the Integrated Flood Resilience and adaptation project in three major river basins in the country.
The P6-billion Philippine General Hospital (PGH) cancer center, on the other hand, could start operating as early as 2025 should the awarding of the contract happen this year.
PGH Special Assistant to the Director Jose Rafael Marfori on Saturday said the construction of the 300-bed capacity hospital could take at least two to three years to finish.
The project, Marfori noted, would be under a build-transfer-operate (BTO) scheme and not build-operate-transfer (BOT) as earlier reported.
This means the center will be turned over to the PGH once construction is complete and the government retains ownership.
“Immediately after the building is complete and ready to operate, it will be turned over to PGH, the government maintains the ownership as well so there’s no privatization,” Marfori said.