Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has agreed to co-finance two initial infrastructure projects in the country, the Metro Manila Flood Management Project and the EDSA Bus Rapid Transit system.
“We are all very eager to finalize the infrastructure projects in your country … This time, we are very happy we can really talk about something to do in your country,” AIIB president Jin Liqun said in a recent meeting with Philippine officials led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
The P37.76-billion EDSA Bus Rapid Transit system is partly funded by the Asian Development Bank while the P23.46-billion Metro Manila flood control project supported by the World Bank is now being processed for project financing by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The ADB support for the BRT project excludes the Public-Private Partnership portion of the project cost, which NEDA hopes would be backed by the AIIB.
The Senate had earlier concurred in the ratification of the China-led bank’s Articles of Agreement before the end-2016 deadline.
Dominguez strongly backed the Philippines’ membership to the AIIB, which, he said, would provide the government “another source of long-term funding at very reasonable interest rates” for the Duterte administration’s unprecedented infrastructure buildup.
Under the Articles of Agreement of the AIIB, the Philippines as a founding member will get an allocation of 600 Founding Member votes on top of its Basic Votes and Share Votes.
The AIIB is a multilateral bank owned by 57 sovereign-member countries with a total capitalization of US$100 billion.
Its member countries include Australia; China; South Korea; United Kingdom; the ASEAN countries of the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam; and European states such as Austria, France, Germany, and Italy; Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa.
Out of the 57 members so far, 37 are from Asia and 20 are non-regional members.
