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State Dining Room, Malacañan Palace
November 9, 2023

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. presided over the 11th National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board Meeting at the State Dining Room, Malacañan Palace.

First on the agenda was the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway Project, where the Board approved of the proposed revised Parameters, Terms and Conditions (PTCs) of the project.

Thereafter, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) presented the Phase III of the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG). This involves the design, construction and delivery of five (5) units of the 97-meter multi-role response vessels (MRRVs) with five-year Integrated Logistics Support (ILS).

The request for the five (5) MRRVs will enable the PCG to secure important sea lines of communication (SLOC) in the West Philippine Sea, Sulu-Celebes Seas and Philippine Sea. This will also help the fleet in its conduct of search and rescue operations during maritime disasters, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations during typhoons and natural disasters.

The DOTr reported that the request is economically viable and among the project’s other benefits also include reduced cost of damage when a maritime oil spill occurs and increase in cruise tourism revenues, among many others.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) discussed the ‘Pang-Agarang Tulay para sa Bagong Bayanihan ng mga Magsasaka’ (PBBM Bridges), which involves the construction of 350 modular steel bridges with an estimated total length of 10,500 linear meters. These bridges will help enhance the competitiveness of agrarian reform communities (ARCs), and improve their productivity and income.

The NEDA likewise detailed the status of the implementation of the Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) under the ‘Build Better More’ Program as of the third quarter of 2023. To this end, the agency presented its IFP Executive Dashboard that provides a comprehensive overview of the progress of the IFPs.

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