The Philippines will have to find other funding sources to bankroll big-ticket transport infrastructure projects after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) decided to drop China as its partner for the Mindanao Railway Project.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Thursday confirmed that the DOTr is currently “finding other lending sources.”

“We will look for another funding source. We are working on that now,” Bautista said on the sidelines of the German?Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry luncheon meeting.

The transport chief said three DOTr projects?the South Long Haul Project, Mindanao Railway Project, and Subic-Clark Railway?were supposedly dropped as Chinese official development assistance (ODA) as the latter’s interest has “waned.”

“‘Yun ang hahanapan namin ng additional funding or replacement,” he said, adding that the DOTr has requested the assistance from the Department of Finance (DOF).

Bautista said he is not saddened of this development as there are other sources of developmental assistance available, including those from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“Ang options natin we can still go to other official development assistance (ODA). Nandiyan parin ang JICA, nandiyan ang ADB, nandiyan ang World Bank,” he explained.

“There are other governments talking to us with the possibility of supporting the financing of these projects,” he added. DOTr