Chinese Government provides RMB 25.3 million grant — via ETCA — for Feasibility Study of Davao City Expressway Project (Linked to Record ID#64984, #64983, #63254, #63843, and #63874)

Project narrative

On March 17, 2017, China Commerce’s Vice Minister, Fu Ziying, and Philippine Finance Secretary, Carlos Dominguez III, signed an exchange of letters to dispatch Chinese experts to conduct preliminary studies of the Davao City Expressway Project. Then, on September 7, 2017, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Chinese Embassy signed Minutes of Discussion (MoD) to send a team of experts to the Philippines to assess the Davao City Expressway Project. Approximately two months later, on November 15, 2017, the Philippines’ Department of Finance (FOF) and China’s Ministry of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the implementation of a second batch of Chinese Government-financed infrastructure projects, including the Davao City Expressway Project. Then, on April 10, 2018, the Chinese and Philippine governments signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed RMB 500 million of grant funding for multiple projects, and letters of exchange, which committed RMB 25,830,000 of grant funding to conduct a feasibility study for the Davao City Expressway Project. The feasibility study was expected to involve a full-scale geological survey and topographic map measurement, hydrological surveys, environmental and social impact (ESIA) assessments, and other studies. On November 20, 2018, an Implementation Agreement of the Feasibility Project for the Davao City Expressway Project was signed with the Chinese Government’s Agency for International Economic Cooperation (AIECO) to implement and coordinate the project. CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd was selected as the Chinese project implementation company. The 23 km Davao Expressway is expected to be in three stages. Phase 1 will involve the construction of an elevated viaduct with an estimated length of 8.45 km beginning from the intersection of Leon Garcia St and Monteverde St and at the junction to Sta Ana Port. The viaduct will terminate at the existing Davao City Diversion Road near the Davao River Bridge in Barangay Ma-a. Phase 2 works will involve the construction of an 8.35km elevated viaduct at the intersection of Daang Maharlika and Davao City Diversion Road in Barangay Panacan that will pass through the existing alignment of the Davao City Diversion Road and ends at the Davao River Bridge in Barangay Ma-a. In Phase 3, DPWH has proposed to build a new road at the endpoint of Phase 1 and Phase 2, which will be nearly parallel to the existing diversion road and moves in a west direction and then south-west until it terminates at the Davao City Diversion Road near Catalunan Grande Road. The implementation of the feasibility study by CCCC Highway Consultants Co., Ltd. commenced on or around November 20, 2018 and was originally expected to take 12 months to complete (November 20, 2019). On October 24, 2019, the Philippine and Chinese governments signed a handover certificate for the feasibility study of the Davao City Expressway Project. Discussions on the financing of the project were expected to follow.