Neda board nod seen for 7 PPP deals

Several big-ticket public private partnership deals and an P18-billion “connector tollroad” project of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. are up for approval by President Aquino, possibly within this week, a government official said.

PPP Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said they were set to tackle several PPP projects such as the Iloilo, Davao and Bacolod airport operations and maintenance contracts, the P50-billion regional prison facilities project, the P17.5-billion Davao Sasa Port and the P19.3-billion Motor Vehicle Inspection Program.

Canilao said the projects would be presented in the next board meeting of the National Economic and Development Authority, which is chaired by President Aquino. The meeting was tentatively scheduled within this week, she said.

Canilao added that the Neda board would also tackle MPIC’s elevated connector road, which is expected to link the company’s North Luzon Expressway to the South Luzon Expressway.

That project suffered delays due to disagreements within the government on how it should be implemented, pushing back the scheduled completion from 2016 to 2017, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. president Ramoncito Fernandez said in a previous interview.

The project was set to undergo a Swiss or competitive challenge by the first quarter of 2015, said Rogelio Singson, who heads the Department of Public Works and Highways, the main agency implementing the connector road.

Singson said he did not anticipate any more obstacles in getting Neda approval for the project.

The aforementioned PPP projects, meanwhile, are part of the roughly 18 deals that the Aquino administration is seeking to roll out before June next year.