PPP projects ‘real’, not wish list – exec
by ROSALIE C. PERIABRAS, REPORTER, July 22, 2015 9:58 pm, Source
THE Aquino administration reported on the progress of its flagship public-private partnership (PPP) scheme on Wednesday, brushing aside criticisms on the slow-moving program wracked by delays in biddings and implementation of billions of pesos worth of massive infrastructure projects meant to pump-prime the economy.
Cosette Canilao, executive director of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, said: “As of July 2015, there are 13 projects under procurement with a cost of P517.98 billion; with three projects for roll-out with a total cost of P25 billion; four projects for approval of relevant government bodies with a total cost of P201.19 billion, and six projects with ongoing studies with a total cost of P86.75 billion.”
“This is a real list of projects. This is not a wish list. This is the list of projects that we’ve bidded and discussed with the implementing agencies,” Canilao said at the Manila Times 2nd Business Forum.
“In 2011, we were rated Number 8 in the world as having one of the good regimes and legal frameworks for the PPPs. In 2014 we moved a notched higher to Number 7 and we are now considered as a country with developed PPP program,” she said.
She added: “To establish an enabling environment for the private sector to invest in our infrastructure projects, the PPP Center embarked on the forefront approach, working with other government agencies to improve the policy environment, such as updating the implementing rule and regulations of the BOT [build-transfer-operate] law [and] establish clear mechanisms for all our PPP contracts.”
Since 2010, the PPP Center has already awarded 10 projects, and one of these — the first PPP project, the Daang Hari-SLEX link road — will be opened on July 23.
The PPP Center has over 40 projects in the pipeline worth about P24 billion and they are continuously developing new projects for PPP implementation with the rest of the government implementing agencies.
“So for the last 12 months of this administration, we are embarking as well on other initiatives to further improve the policy environment, our processes, and also the capacities of the government,” Canilao said.
“We’ve already submitted our proposed amendments to the BOT Law … for the PPPs to Congress,” she said. “And the proposed amendments include various initiatives and reforms that we’ve already started and we are currently doing.”
Canilao added: “We are also pushing for a clear mechanism for how private partners can draw from the contingent liability fund from the government and that contingent liability fund is not a guarantee but a fund, a facility from which the private sector is assured that if government breaches of any of its obligations under the PPP contract there is a fund that can compensate them if their claim is justifiable.”
