DBP renews ties with Singapore firm to advance sustainable infra solutions

State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has renewed its agreement with Infrastructure Asia (IA) as both agencies map out strategies to implement sustainable solutions aimed at improving the country’s infrastructure landscape and fast-track economic growth and recovery, a top official said.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the bank signed a memorandum of understanding with InfraAsia to expand the scope of its current collaboration to include key areas of the economy such as renewable energy, transportation, waste management, and water supply and sanitation.

“DBP and InfraAsia have broadened the scope of its partnership to include the provision of technical assistance in the development, finance and implementation of infrastructure initiatives of the private sector,’’ Herbosa said. ‘’The identification of emerging infrastructure solutions such as solar energy merchant market and green buildings is also now within the scope of our expanded cooperation with InfraAsia.’’

DBP is the fifth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and has a branch network of 131 branches and 14 branch-lite units. It provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy – infrastructure and logistics; micro, small and medium enterprises; environment; social services and community development.

InfraAsia was set up by Enterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2018 to enable good-fit solutions from companies and institutions in addressable infrastructure sub-segments in Asia, catalysing project development, financing and execution opportunities to meet the region’s growing needs. It links up organizations that are domain experts in their respective fields with governments, firms, and multilateral institutions.

Herbosa said DBP can benefit from InfraAsia’s solid relationship with multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Group, as well as the  Singapore Business Federation to spur project collaborations, adding that the Bank “… can leverage on InfraAsia’s collective capabilities and networks of various government agencies to catalyze more trade and investments into infrastructure in the region..”.

He said this latest collaboration with InfraAsia is expected to boost both public and private sector spending on infrastructure to further buoy the country’s economic recovery while generating much-needed job opportunities.

“Our partnership with InfraAsia bodes well for DBP moving forward as we continue to support initiatives that seek to address the country’s infrastructure gaps and lay the foundation for a competitive and resilient Philippine economy,” Herbosa said.