The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said part of the P500 billion capital expenditure in the next five years would be spent on projects that will be aligned with the European Commission's projects.

Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas told members of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and Joint Foreign Chambers that some of the government's programs will be aligned with the projects that some European agencies are promoting in the Philippines. 

"The European Commission has several projects on health, agriculture, environment, forestry, and support for the peace process in Mindanao," he said.

The DOTC leads the government's charge to pump prime the economy with major projects to modernize the transport system in a bid to raise rural incomes, literacy levels and improve health conditions in the countryside.

Roxas added that the government is now mapping a port program for Mindanao that will result in lower shipping rates from Mindanao to where the market is in Manila.

One of the key infrastructure projects under the program is the construction of the Laguindingan airport that will support agricultural development in Mindanao.  It will serve as the main airport of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in Northern Mindanao and a counterpart to the Davao International Airport in Southern Mindanao.

The Laguindingan airport is expected to help boost Mindanao's potential as a national food basket as well as a producer of the country's major agricultural exports such as banana and coconut.

Source: Malaya; Business; 09 December 2011