The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said its total commitments in the Philippines last year amounted to $4.5 billion. In its 2019 annual report released on Monday, the Manila-based multilateral lender said its data showed that its committed loans, grants, ...
The Asian Development Bank said its total commitments in the Philippines last year amounted to $4.5 billion. In its 2019 annual report released on Monday, the Manila-based multilateral lender said its data showed that its committed loans, grants, technical assistance and co-financing was significantly higher than the $1.
7 billion recorded in 2018. This was mainly boosted by the approval for the financing of up to $2.75 billion for the construction of 53.1 kilometers of a 163-kilometer passenger railway connecting Malolos City in Bulacan province to New Clark City in Tarlac province. The project is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which will provide $2.01 billion for rolling stocks and railway systems. “By 2025, when the railway is fully operational, it will also stretch to Calamba [City, Laguna province] in the south. It is expected to cut the travel time from Manila to Clark International Airport to less than one hour by rail, compared with two to three hours by car or bus,” said ADB. “The impact on densely populated Manila will be immediate. It will help ease chronic road congestion, reduce air pollution, cut the costs of transport and logistics, and encourage a population shift from the capital to growth centers in the north. More than 342,000 passengers are expected to travel daily along the Manila-Clark corridor and up to 696,000 passengers per day to and from Calamba,” it added. The Malolos-Clark railway is the ADB’s single largest infrastructure investment and a flagship project under the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build program, which is accelerating much-needed investment in infrastructure. Other programs approved for funding last year include the Secondary Education Support Program; Local Governance Reform Program ; Capacity Building to Foster Competition; Facilitating Youth School-to-Work Transition Program ; and Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility-Additional Financing. Overall, ADB’s projects, programs and other development support for its developing members in Asia and the Pacific amounted to $33.74 billion last year, down from $35.4 billion in 2018. “I am encouraged by our efforts in 2019. I am heartened by what we have achieved so far in 2020,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “We will build on these achievements to ensure we remain relevant and responsive to our members’ needs as they take action to combat and recover from the novel coronavirus disease pandemic,” he added. To respond to the coronavirus crisis, the ADB approved last month a $20-billion package to finance wide-ranging actions and programs to help its developing members address the impact of the pandemic.
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