NEDA okays $10-M loan for Laguna de Bay rehab

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has approved the $10-million loan for the rehabilitation and dredging of Laguna de Bay. The NEDA board — chaired by President Benigno Aquino III — has approved the three-year loan from the World Bank and Royal Netherlands, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing Friday. The project replaced the controversial P18.7-billion Laguna Lake Dredging Project that the President canceled last year, Lacierda said. The project is aimed at repairing the damage caused by typhoon Ondoy on Laguna de Bay in 2009, when the lake swelled from 80,000 hectares to 115,000 hectares. The new lake rehabilitation plan seeks to solve flooding in Metro Manila and to create the longest lakeshore park in the world through dredging, lakeshore reclamation, improvement of water quality, and management of the lake's resources. —With Amita O. Legaspi/JE/JV, GMANews.TV