NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Funds to complete the 3rd Panglao-Tagbilaran Offshore Bridge is being awaited even as the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) approved last Thursday the proposed French Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding.
This is the alternative to the earlier China Grant which did not push through.
The meeting was presided by Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph Recto, according to a press statement issued by Rep. Edgar Chatto in whose term as governor pushed for this 3rd bridge in order to decongest traffic to and from Panglao where the Bohol Panglao International Airport is now generating a huge volume of traffic due to arriving passengers.
Earlier figures revealed that the unfinished bridge still needs some P6 billion to complete the 2.2 kilometer stretch as the approaches, both in Dauis and in the city, were already completed under the previous funding from China.
With the “not too pleasant relationship” with China, the national government is searching for alternative funding.
The NEDA-ICC Board consists of the Secretary of Finance, as chairman; the NEDA Secretary, as co-chair; and the Executive Secretary, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Budget and Management and the Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, as members.
Its mandates include the evaluation of the fiscal, monetary and balance of payments implications of major national projects and recommends to the President the timetable of their implementation on a regular basis.
It also advises the President on matters related to the domestic and foreign borrowings program and submits a status of the fiscal, monetary and balance of payments implications of major national projects.
The ODA package was initially discussed by DOF, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and NEDA.
Chatto expressed gratitude to President Bongbong Marcos and all agencies involved in the implementation of the project.
He had been in constant coordination with DPWH, DOF and NEDA throughout the process of ensuring the completion of the project.
The third bridge’s final approval will soon follow in the NEDA Board.