OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario and H.E. Kazuhide Ishikawa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Philippines, signed and exchanged notes at the Deparment of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City, March 25, 2015 on 2 ODA grant projects amounting to 2.789 billion Yen that is approximately 1.2 billion pesos. (Willie Sy / Photoville International)
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and Japan have signed a deal for six new projects that will be implemented in the country.
2 of the projects were signed under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) that amount to P1.9 billion. While the other two were signed under the Yen Loan Program, amounting to P8 billion.
Among the ODA projects are the grant aid program for the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao that will be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the grant agreement for the hydropower development projects in Ifugao Province that will be implemented by the Department of Energy (DOE).
Also part of these are the non-grant project aid for Japanese SMEs products that will be implemented by the DPWH and PAGASA-DOST, and the non-project grant aid for disaster risk reduction equipment and facilities that will be implemented by the DepED, DSWD and PNP.
Two Yen Loan Programs will also be implemented in Metro Manila and Cagayan De Oro.
These are the Metro Manila interchange project phase 6, which amounts to more than P3 billion, and the flood risk management project for the Cagayan De Oro River.
The interchange project aims to resolve the heavy traffic in Metro Manila through building of interchange and flyovers.
The flood risk project meanwhile aims to mitigate flood risk in Cagayan De Oro River by building dikes and improving existing bridges.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawa hopes the said projects would help in the socio and economic development of the Philippines, and to further strengthen the bilateral ties of the two countries.
“I believe these projects will strengthen friendship between the people of Japan and the Philippines as well as the strategic partnership between our two countries,” he said. (Darlene Basingan / UNTV News)