MANILA — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced Thursday that it will finance more projects in Mindanao in support of a sustainable peace and to spur its economic development.
“We want to invest more in Mindanao. To sustain peace in Mindanao, we need to develop Mindanao in a broader sense. We had a very big road project in Mindanao last year, and we are considering support to transport (projects) in Davao,” said ADB President Takehiko Nakao in a press conference, as the Philippines hosts the Bank’s 51st annual meeting.
The Philippine government has obtained from ADB a USD380-million loan intended to expand Mindanao’s road network as well as other key infrastructure projects under its “Build, Build, Build” program.
“By our studies, (under) the Build, Build, Build, we need to support the Philippines metro areas, how to mitigate these traffic difficulties, and how to support the railway projects, and the LRT (Light Rail Transit) or MRT (Mass Rail Transit),” said Nakao.
“We should renew those things, there are so many areas which we must support very seriously,” he added.
Of the country’s 75 infrastructure flagship projects, 45 projects are located in Luzon, 10 in Visayas and 17 in Mindanao. Two other projects aimed to enhance inter-island connectivity in the country, while one other has nationwide in scope.
The ADB chief further noted that the Duterte government has several agenda points which are in line with the Bank’s thrust areas, including rural development, education, and some gender issues to empower women.
In the area of education, Nakao particularly cited school-to-job initiative, including technical and vocational education training; and its support to the country’s extension of high school education to 12 years.
“We are also supporting the conditional cash transfer and this has been here for sometime from the previous government. We support families to make their kids to attend school and get the regular health check up by visiting clinics on the condition that we transfer the cash to the families,” he added. (PNA)
