The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board has approved a new project and amended five ongoing projects during its first meeting under the Marcos administration.
In a Palace briefing, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the NEDA Board, chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., approved the PHP11.42-billion Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency (FishCoRe) project of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Balisacan said FishCoRe aims to improve the management of fishery resources and enhance the value of production of fisheries in select Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs).
Under the project, it will establish support facilities and fisheries infrastructure, develop appropriate fisheries management policies, provide livelihood and enterprise development assistance and improve institutional capacities of target beneficiaries.
This project also aims to raise the income of fisherfolk.
Balisacan added the project will be funded through official development assistance.
The NEDA Board also approved to amend five ongoing projects of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
The DOTr requested for utilization of savings for the requested change in scope and loan validity extension involving the acquisition of the 10 Multi-Role Response Vessels for the Philippine Coast Guard. This is under the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project Phase I of the agency.
Changes in DOTr’s Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management System (CNS-ATM) project to extend loan validity was also approved.
“The project involves the construction of the Manila ATM Automation System and the Manila ATM Center Building in Pasay City, and the installation of communications and surveillance equipment in ten radar sites,” NEDA said.
The NEDA Board also approved the extension of loan validity and the Samar Pacific Coastal Road Project of the DPWH as well as the request for change in scope of works, increase in cost and reallocation of contingency cost to civil works category for its Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (IDRR-CCA) Measures in Low-Lying Areas of Pampanga Bay.
It also gave the green light to the request of the PCC for a change in scope for its Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project, which is a long-term capacity building plan of the PCC, formerly chaired by Balisacan.
The project aims to boost the institutional and individual capacities of PCC and other agencies with mandates to protect the domestic market from unfair competition to strengthen enforcement of the Philippine Competition Act. (PNA)
