THE Department of Finance (DOF) has secured financing agreements with the government of Korea on the new Dumaguete Airport Development Project and the latest Economic Development Promotion Facility (EDPF) which will allow the delivery of more infrastructure projects all over the country.
With a total cost of P17.06 billion, about P13.15 billion of which is supported by Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), the new Dumaguete City Airport project covers 197.55 hectares of land development in the Municipality of Bacong, Negros Oriental to construct a new airport facility that complies with domestic and international standards for operational safety and efficiency.
“The new airport will enhance our capacity to welcome a surge of tourists in the post-pandemic era. With the new Dumaguete airport, we anticipate accommodating up to 2.5 million passengers per year, up from just 800,000. From serving limited domestic flights, we can now open the door to international routes,” finance secretary Ralph Recto said during the exchange of notes and signing ceremony on the said projects at DOF office in Manila yesterday.
Aside from Dumaguete, Recto said the government is looking at upgrading more regional airports in the country to ensure that the fruits of growth and modernization reach every island in the archipelago.
Meanwhile, Recto said the $3- billion new EDPF which will serve as an additional financial bridge for realizing the administration’s Build Better More Program.
“The facility we have signed today with South Korea will enable us to deliver more infrastructure projects nationwide, from roads and bridges to disaster risk reduction efforts,” he said.
Among the projects in the pipeline being considered for possible funding assistance under the new facility are the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges; the Consolacion-Liloan Bypass Road Project; the Lapu-Lapu Coastal Road Project of the DPWH and the Pampanga Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Project Phase II.
Recto said the DOF is ready to support the implementing agencies to ensure the projects’ uninterrupted funding and delivery.
“We will also see to it that we monitor and personally visit the projects to ensure their timely completion,” he said.
The financing agreements for the projects were signed between Recto, on behalf of the Philippine government, and KEXIM chairman and president Yoon Hee-sung, on behalf of the government of Korea.
The financing for the new Dumaguete Airport project carries very concessional terms, with an interest rate of 0.05 percent per year for non-consulting services to be repaid in 40 years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period.
Meanwhile, the individual financing of projects to be lined up under the EDPF will carry an indicative interest rate of 1.2 percent, to be repaid in 25 years, inclusive of a seven-year grace period.
