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NINE
projects endorsed under the 26th, 27th and 28th yen loan
packages hang in the balance as
Tokyo waits for
Manila
to reimburse Japanese companies charged with the
value-added tax (VAT).
To date,
the Department of Finance said only 79 percent “of the
total documented [reimbursement] claims” had been paid.
Economic
Development Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan
said the VAT issue has affected one remaining project
for the 26th yen loan and all projects under the 27th
and 28th packages.
The
government is negotiating with the Japanese government
to allow funding for at least the remaining project
under the 26th yen loan package so that the project
could be started. “We told them that since the
government already paid most of the VAT payments, maybe
we can already start with the other projects in the
pipeline.”
The
remaining unpaid VAT charges total only P300 million.
“It’s not that we can’t pay the amount, but that we are
only waiting for documents to [be able to] process the
payments,” said Tungpalan.
The
affected projects are the Agno River Integrated
Irrigation Project under the 26th yen loan package, the
Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project Phase III
and the Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project Phase
III under the 27th package.
Under
the 28th package, the projects affected are the
Infrastructure Logistics Assistance Facility, (ILAF)
also known as the Logistics and Infrastructure
Assistance Facility (LINAF), Environmental Development
Program, Project on Forestland Management, Arterial Road
Links Development Project Phase VII, Catanduanes
Circumferential Road Phase II, and Support Program for
Agri-Enterprise Development.
The
P10.8-billion Agno River project is designed to provide
year-round irrigation for 70,800 hectares that is
expected to increase palay [paddy rice] production and
allow crop diversification. Government expects these
results to make farming a highly competitive and
profitable business in the provinces of Pangasinan and
Tarlac.
The bulk
of the P12.66-billion 27th loan package will go to the
Department of Agrarian Reform’s Infrastructure Support
Project Phase III, budgeted at P7.96 billion.
The
P55.02-billion 28th yen loan package gives the lion’s
share—P20.12 billion—to the Development Bank of the
Philippines’ ILAF, or also known as the LINAF. |
