FROM now on, projects to be funded by Chinese official development assistance (ODA) will not move forward until all stakeholders have been consulted on them.

This, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said, is his way of making sure that there will be no repeat of the national broadband network (NBN) mess, in which oppositions to the project only started surfacing when the contract was already there.

“I can do consultation with all stakeholders to put a stop to those instances wherein the project is already there before somebody will oppose. We will avoid that,” Favila said.

He said this is what he thought of doing the minute President Arroyo gave him the instruction to review all the projects being proposed for funding by ODA from China.

Right now, Favila said, they are doing an inventory of all these undertakings.

Fortunately for the Philippines, he said, Beijing is not pulling out its ODAs for the Philippines despite the cancellation of the NBN contract with Chinese firm Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Co. Ltd. (ZTE).

“The NBN issue is already discounted. The relation with China is not affected, and the funding will continue,” he said.

Even Chinese investors who are looking at doing business in the Philippines, he said, are maintaining constant communication with him.

“When it comes to China, almost everybody who wishes to do business with the Philippines, by virtue of my position, they’re always in touch,” Favila said.

This, he said, includes Chinese shipping giant Cosco, which is planning to put up a multibillion-dollar transshipment facility in the country.

Favila said all ODA-funded projects in the pipeline, including the proposed South Rail, will be lined up and presented to the different stakeholders.

After this, the trade secretary said, he will be gathering all their comments on the projects and weigh them accordingly before deciding which will be endorsed or not.

Through this, all concerns will be threshed out early on.

He did not say, however, how long the process would take.

About $500 million in ODA has been signed by the Philippines and China early this year, the majority of which will likely go to the South Rail project linking Calamba, Laguna and Lucena, and some water-supply facilities.

Already going on is the North Rail project, which is also being undertaken through a loan from China.

FROM now on, projects to be funded by Chinese official development assistance (ODA) will not move forward until all stakeholders have been consulted on them.

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