President Aquino presides over National Economic
and Development Authority Board Meeting
President Benigno S. Aquino III presided over
the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board Meeting at the
Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang Palace on Thursday.
Presidential Communications Operations Office
Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the meeting will be divided into two parts.
In the first part, the Investment Coordination
Committee (ICC), headed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and NEDA
Director-General Arsenio Balisacan, will discuss the development, operations
and maintenance projects being done by the Department of Transportation and
Communications in the country’s airport.
The ICC will also discuss the Light Rail Transit
Line 1 project, also known as the Cavite extension project, which is part of
the Aquino administration’s public private partnership. The government is studying
the extension of the train line up to Dasmariñas, Cavite, instead of the
initial plan to make Bacoor City as the final station.
The Cavite extension project is expected to
serve around four million commuters of Parañaque and Cavite province. The rebidding
of the P65-billion LRT 1 extension project was set last April 28.
Secretary Coloma said that in the second part of
the meeting, the NEDA board will review four projects: the infrastructure
projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Metro Manila and
Laguna Lake Shore; the irrigation projects of the National Irrigation
Administration; the roadmap for transport infrastructure development in the
National Capital Region, Central Luzon Region and Calabarzon Region; and the
government integrated financial management information system, which enables
the government to plan, execute and monitor the budget more efficiently.
The meeting started at 10:15 a.m. and is ongoing
as of this writing.
The last NEDA Board meeting presided over by the
President as chairman, was held last May 29. The meeting, which lasted 11
hours, approved nine projects worth P62.3 billion.
Also present at the meeting were Executive
Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Presidential
Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis Pangilinan,
Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, Secretary Coloma,
Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo,
Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Transportation and
Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Agriculture Secretary Proceso
Alcala, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje, Science
and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo and Presidential Management Staff (PMS)
Head Julia Andrea Abad.
Also in attendance were Metro Manila Development
Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, Mindanao Development Authority
Chairperson Luwalhati Antonino, Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines
President and Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr., Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao Governor Mujiv Hataman, Housing and Urban Development
Coordinating Council Undersecretary Celia Alba, Tourism Assistant Secretary
Rolando Canizal, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Managing Director Wilhelmina
Mañalac, Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson, and Chief Presidential Legal
Counsel Assistant Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Sabater Caguioa. PND (jb)
