Agreements between the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) aim to accelerate the progress of transportation projects, Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said on Thursday.
“These agreements for ADB transaction services will help us fast-track project structuring towards a better commuting experience,” he said in a press release.
In a separate statement last April 24, Mr. Bautista said that the ADB’s assistance is crucial in completing the transportation projects under the Marcos administration.
“We derive much confidence in being able to complete these projects with ADB by our side,” he said at the 4th DOTr-ADB coordination meeting.
Based on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center’s data, 205 PPP projects are under implementation, 164 are in the pipeline, and 56 were concluded and terminated.
Mr. Bautista added that the agreement concretized the collaborative relations between the department, ADB, and the PPP Center.
Further, the partnership with ADB extended the concession agreement for the Philippine Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) projects.
“Automatic fare collection projects are major strides in transforming public transport, even when they are still years from completion,” Mr. Bautista said.
Included under the signed agreement were transaction advisory services for the AFCS project and the operations and maintenance of MRT-3 and the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project (DPTMP). – Almira Louise S. Martinez
