PPP Center shifts focus to smaller deals

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center is recasting its role from overseeing big-ticket infrastructure projects such as trains and airports to handling smaller but equally crucial deals around the country.

PPP Center executive director Ferdinand Pecson said in a business forum Thursday that the program “won’t die,” adding that the agency was lining up new projects, including a seaport project in San Ramon, Zamboanga as well as water and sanitation projects in local government units outside Metro Manila.

“PPP is still very much there. The private sector will always play a significant role in nation building,” Pecson said during the second Philippines Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum organized by Euromoney’s IJ Global.

The shift came as the Duterte administration decided that most of the large PPP projects would be funded by the government or overseas development assistance loans. The private sector, in many of these deals, would be allowed to bid for the operations and maintenance component.

Before the Aquino administration ended, the PPP Center outlined over 40 projects valued at around P800 billion.

As of Sept. 4 this year, that had been cut down to about 21 projects, most of which were under study, data from the PPP Center’s website showed. Among these are the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit Project and the Duty Free Retail Development Project.

The Aquino administration awarded 12 PPP projects over its six year term.

These included the MCX or Muntinlupa Cavite Expressway (formerly DaangHari-Slex Link Road), PPP for school infrastructure project (Phase 1), Naia Expressway Project, PPP for school infrastructure project (Phase II), Automatic Fare Collection System, Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension, the Integrated Transport System-Southwest project, the Cavite Laguna Expressway, the ITS-South project, and the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project.