Four infrastructure projects with a total amount of $1.9 billion are being evaluated by the Export-Import Bank of China, a Department of Finance official said in an online briefing.
Finance Assistant Secretary Mark Dennis Joven said these four projects were in the pipeline of the EximBank of China.
"These are the three bridges in Metro Manila project, Davao-Samal bridge project, Mindanao flood control project, and the Subic-Clark railway project,"Joven said.
"The total value of the commercial contracts for these projects is around $1.892 billion or $1.9 billion," he said.
Joven said other projects worth around $4.6 billion, "are undergoing initial procurement."
The Davao-Samal bridge project aims to provide a resilient and reliable transportation link between Davao and the Island Garden City of Samal, enhancing internal mobility and external linkage to support the growth potential of the Davao Region.
The Mindanao flood control projects worth P39.2 billion involves the construction of various flood management infrastructure such as dikes and floodgates along the Ambal-Simuay and Rio Grande de Mindanao which are parts of the Mindanao River Basin, the second largest river basin in the country.
The Subic-Clark Railway Project is a component of the PNR Luzon System Development Framework, providing initial freight service between the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, linking Subic Port with Clark International Airport and other major economic hubs in Central Luzon, especially New Clark City, and forming an integrated logistics hub for the development of Central Luzon as a new growth center to decongest Metro Manila.
Commenting on the projects being funded by China, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government is "happy" because they are according to terms that are beneficial to the government.
"The Chinese projects, once they get approved, they get implemented rather quickly. And you can see it in the bridges," Dominguez said.
"We pay a very good interest rate. The terms are good and the projects are okay. What we have experienced though… that our bureaucracies and procedures do not exactly match. So we did encounter some difficulties in getting approvals and basically understanding each other," Dominguez said.