PPP Center reveals pipeline for 19 projects worth P600B

THE PUBLIC Private Partnership (PPP) Center said 18 infrastructure projects—including Metro Manila’s first subway system and six regional airports—would be rolled out before June 2015, a government official said.

PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao presented to participants at the Wallace Business Forum on Tuesday the full list of projects. The presentation showed that 13 of these projects have an identified value of just above P600 billion.

The plan was part of the government’s initiative to get more projects off the ground and ensure a steady pipeline of PPP projects, which would help sustain the administration’s infrastructure program even after President Aquino steps down in 2016.

The list presented Tuesday includes the P132-billion Mass Transit Loop, the country’s first subway system to link key business districts in Metro Manila, as well as a P265.3-billion North-South Commuter Rail.

Canilao said the subway system will be rolled out in December this year while the schedule for the North-South Commuter rail was set in November. It also plans to rollout the LRT-1 extension to Dasmariñas, Cavite this November.

Other major projects are the New Centennial Water Supply Source (P18.4 billion), which will be rolled out in August, and operations and maintenance contract of the Light Rail Transit Line 2, also in August, the presentation showed.

The P2.3-billion Bohol (Panglao) Airport P2.28 will be rolled out in September, Canilao said, alongside the Laguindingan airport, Davao Sasa Port (P17.1 billion), Puerto Princesa Airport (P5.01 billion), Davao Airport (P39.7 billion), Bacolod Airport (P19.8 billion) and Iloilo Airport (P29.7 billion).

The government has so far awarded seven PPP projects, of which five will be completed by 2016.

These include the four-kilometer Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway road project, the the 7-km Naia Expressway project, a smartcard system for Metro Manila’s railways and deals for the construction of new classrooms, Canilao said in a previous interview.

The two projects that have been awarded—but will not be completed by the time President Aquino steps down—are the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center and the expansion of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. Miguel R. Camus