THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that it will be extending about $3.5 billion worth of assistance to the Philippines annually between 2024 and 2029.
In a presentation in a forum on Tuesday, ADB Philippine Country Office Director Kelly Bird said the annual assistance will be aligned with the President’s Eight-Point Agenda and the recently released Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
In December, the ADB disclosed that it intends to extend an indicative amount of $4.3 billion annually between 2023 and 2025. The new amount, however, covers a longer timeline for the upcoming Country Partnership Strategy (CPS).
“We will be looking at areas to work with the Philippines on biodiversity protection as a way to support climate mitigation (as well as) continuing our investments in mass public transportation, bridges and road networks. (We will also be) focusing again on investing in education skills, employment, social protection and health care,” Bird said.
“Our strategy will always have those mainstreaming features, which means that all of our programs and projects need to be taken into account and that of course will be climate adaptation, gender and LGBT equality and private sector led growth,” he added.
Efforts in infrastructure of the ADB, Bird said, will focus on decongesting Metro Manila in the next 20 to 30 years.
The Manila-based multilateral development bank will finance infrastructure projects that will allow populations to move north or south of the megacity.
Bird said they are working with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to create efficient public mass transport systems that reduce travel time and carbon dioxide emissions.
Some of the projects that have been approved by the ADB include the South commuter railway project which is cofinanced with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The project, Bird said, will be undertaken together with the Malolos-Clark railway project that will ensure a seamless link from Clark International Airport to Calamba, Laguna.
“Most of the contracts have been awarded and Civil Works has commenced and we’re hoping that that project will be at least partially in operation by 2025,” Bird said.
The ADB official also said it has approved the pedestrian greenways, Metro Manila bridges, and a project of the Angat Dam to improve the resiliency of water systems.
In terms of projects that may be approved this year, Bird cited financing for the Bataan-Cavite Bridge, which could be the second longest bridge globally.
Bird said the ADB may also approve next year the Laguna Lakeshore expressway and the MRT 4 which will run from Ortigas to Taytay, a 15-kilometer light rail line.
“Most of these projects will be mass public transportation projects that will be designed to help improve efficiency of public transport systems to create safe efficient systems,” Bird said.
ADB, he said, is also working in Mindanao. Some of the notable projects there include the rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads along the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Bird said ADB will also construct three bridges in Tawi-Tawi to improve transport efficiency. This is a first for the Manila-based multilateral development bank which has never financed any project in the province since it was founded in 1966.
The ADB, he said, will also undertake a bus system project in Davao. This is a modernized public bus system commonly found in North America and Europe. The design of the project will mean having concessionaires operating on separate bus routes and bus drivers who are salaried to ensure the system’s efficiency.
“It will be an orderly bus system providing very efficient, safe public transport for the residents of Davao. [About] 40 percent of these buses will be electric buses. So it is part of supporting the government’s transition towards a transport system that is based on renewable energy or moving away from fossil fueled transport systems,” Bird explained.
The new system will also have a modern bus ticketing system, traffic system, and provisional support where jeepney drivers can train and become bus drivers themselves.
Bird said this is going to be the first project that merges efforts to improve mass transportation in the country while combining efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.