60 PPP projects up for rollout

Public-private partnerships (PPP) in the local level remained booming with 60 projects for rollout, according to state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

“With respect to local PPPs, there’s no backtracking ever. What’s happening is we’re working silently without getting attention, but now we’ll enjoy your attention as PPPs will be highlighted once again,” Neda Undersecretary Adoracion M. Navarro told reporters last Friday.

Navarro said there were currently 60 PPP projects in the pipeline, to be implemented by local implementing entities such as LGUs, water districts, and state universities and colleges.

“These are catalytic for development in the regions. Neda has been helping the PPP program by establishing PPP knowledge corners in the regions, by entertaining queries by potential implementors in the region,” Navarro said.

While the Duterte administration earlier on gave little attention to big-ticket “pure” PPP projects given the longer time it took for them to take off as well as the added costs and risks to be shouldered by the government, it had pushed PPPs in local government units (LGUs).

LGUs were being involved in identifying and strategically planning projects, while also upgrading their technical capacity to deliver local infrastructure.

Finance officials earlier said the PPP mode was more apt in developing local infrastructure, such that the agency matched LGUs to private investors interested in these smaller projects.

The DOF had also enjoined LGUs to tap the PPP Center-managed P2.58-billion revolving Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) to fund the conduct of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, project structuring, preparation of bid documents, and project monitoring for their PPP projects.