Improved BOT, right-of-way laws sought

To sustain the gains made thus far in the public-private partnership (PPP) program, state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is pushing for amendments in the laws governing right of way acquisition as well as the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.

In a message during last week’s Philippine-Australia PPP Policy Dialogue held in Cebu, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director-General Arsenio M. Balisacan noted of the successes in the implementation of the Aquino administration’s centerpiece PPP program aimed at fast-tracking infrastructure investments.

“The Philippine PPP program has come a long way in terms of developing a robust pipeline of bankable PPP projects while ensuring that they are supported by policy reforms and facilitative processes for greater efficiency,” Balisacan said, citing over 50 active PPP projects whose investment value totaled about $23 billion, on top of 10 contracts worth $4.2 billion or P189.02 billion already awarded to private sector partners.

“We are now simultaneously tendering 14 projects valued at $11.51 billion (P518.28 billion), and several other projects are ready for roll-out and waiting for the approval of the Neda board. Some projects are also in various stages of project preparation and conceptualization,” Balisacan added.

The Neda chief also cited that the Philippines was deemed the “most improved” Asia-Pacific country in terms of PPP readiness by the 2014 Infrascope 2014 report.

“We were ranked No. 7 among the 21 countries that were part of the study. From being an ‘emerging’ PPP market in 2011 we have joined the ‘developed’ PPP markets group alongside countries like [South] Korea, Japan and India. This is attributed mainly to the country’s improved PPP regulatory and institutional framework,” he said.

Also, Balisacan commended the PPP Center, which he said during the last five years worked to “institute policy reforms, streamline processes, and adopt good practices to further enhance the PPP framework and boost private sector interest and confidence in the country.”

“I am proud to say that we now have a sound PPP investment environment founded on the principles of transparency and level playing field,” Balisacan said.

The Neda chief said that given the inroads made so far, “the challenge for us now is how to sustain the gains and successes of our PPP program.”

In this regard, Balisacan said Neda is pushing for the enactment of the PPP Act or amendments to the BOT Law in order to “embed in our systems the earlier reforms we have initiated.”

“We are also seeking to amend the law on right of way acquisition to address infrastructure bottlenecks and delays in project implementation,” he added.