According to the agreement, JICA will providea Japanese ODA loan of up to 36.626 billion yen ($ 350 million) for the Maritime Security and Safety Capacity Improvement Project. The 0.1% loan spans a period of 40 years with first payments due 10 years from now. The total cost of the shipbuilding program will amount to 42.542 billion yen (400 million dollars).
Construction of the vessels is set to begin next year, with the delivery of the sixth and final ship to the VCG due in October 2025. The Japanese shipbuilder has not yet been selected. The class of vessel selected by the VCG has not been officially announced yet but it is reported that will likely be based on the Aso-class, a class of 79 meters patrol vessels in use by the JCG. These patrol vessels have a high speed (over 30 knots) thanks to powerful diesel power plants and four waterjets. They are fitted with a 40mm main gun and four water cannons. The crew complement is 30 sailors. The JCG has three vessels of the Aso-class. The first one was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries while the other two were built by Japan Marine United.
For the record, JICA signed similar agreements for the construction of patrol ships and boats for the Philippine Coast Guard in Japan under the joint Japanese-Philippine Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project (MSCIP) program. In 2016-2018, ten large 44.5-meter Parola-class patrol boats were built by Japan Maritime United for the Philippine Coast Guard under a 2013 contract worth $ 191 million. And as we reported, in February 2020, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth $ 132.57 million to build two 94-meter Multi-Role Response Vessels (MRRV) patrol ships for the Philippine Coast Guard based on the Kunigami-class of the JCG.
