The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) continues to lobby for a bigger budget share of Mindanao to further fund future projects for the island.
MinDA secretary Datu Abul Khayr Alonto confirmed that the current budget for Mindanao has increased to 16 percent or P1.2 trillion, an increase of four percent from 12 percent, or P586 billion. However, he said that the three-year budget is still not enough to fund the agency’s catalytic projects.
Some of these priority projects include the TransMindanao Hi-Speed Railway System or the Mindanao Railway Project (Phase 1); improvement of major airports in Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos City and Cotabato; establishment of freeports and ecozones in Tawi-Tawi; and the building of Mindanao Tourism and Cultural Village Center and flood control projects.
“We will not be settling with this, for this fund will be spread out throughout Mindanao, in the remaining years of the Duterte administration,” Alonto said.
He also said that they are pushing for Islamic financing in the country in case the General Appropriation’s Act (GAA) will not be able to provide the funding for the development of Mindanao, especially in the agricultural industries.
“MinDA is looking at the potential of Islamic finance as alternative and fund source for the catalytic projects in Mindanao,” Alonto said.
A policy framework for it is being lobbied by MinDA in Congress.
