By Elaine Ramos Alanguilan

Trade Secretary Peter Favila will review the list of projects to be funded by a $2-billion facility from the Chinese government.

He told reporters that he had met with the National Economic and Development Authority to get the projects off the ground.

He said the Chinese government had allocated $2 billion in concessional funds, which the Philippines could tap for various infrastructure projects.

Favila said around $1.2 billion of the amount had been allocated for a number of projects, including the 64-kilometer Northrail project, The first phase of the project requires $503 million in funding while the second stage needs $673.67 million.

Northrail will link the northern part of Metro Manila to Clark, Pampanga.

?I will check the projects that could be applied for official development assistance financing from China. These projects will provide jobs and it?s a good time to have these projects off the ground,? said Favila.

He said the projects would be covered by the usual bidding procedures. ?We will have it as transparent as possible to avoid controversies in the future,? he added.

Meanwhile, local food producers who participated recently in an Outbound Business Mission to Guangzhou and Shenzhen in China reported that crab paste and laing (gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk) drew much interest from Chinese buyers and consumers.

Ready-to-consume products, such as banana chips, polvoron, tropical fruit purees, juices and concentrates, such as mango, calamansi and coconut were also popular during the expo.

Rosemarie Castillo, business development manager for food of the Trade Department, said crab paste and laing conformed to the trend for ?fancy food,? ideal for spreads or toppings for bread and biscuits.