Japanese Financial Aid to Improve Peacekeeping, Infra
Filipinos, particularly those in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, can expect to benefit from more Japanese-funded projects in the next three years, according to an official of the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Assistant Press Secretary Natsuko Sakata, director of International Press Division, said that one of the many projects being funded by the Japanese government is a $202 million road network project in Mindanao.
Japan Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. signed exchange of notes for the Road Network Development Project in Conflict-Affected Areas in Mindanao (RNDP) last Sunday in Davao City.
Other upcoming projects
Aside from the road development project in Mindanao, the Japanese government will also be assisting in the vocational training of former combatants. Other projects also include social safety net for the people to promote social infrastructure, healthcare, inclusive growth, and rehabilitation of former drug users.
The Metro Manila subway is also being funded through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Japanese government aims to partially complete the project by 2022, the last year of the Duterte administration.
A Japan embassy official in Manila said a Japanese company, which submitted a proposal to the Department of Transportation in December 2018, had been awarded the P356-billion Metro Manila Subway Project. The proposal has yet to be signed, but the subway project is expected to start in the first quarter of this year and to be fully completed by the third quarter of 2025.
