Gov’t seen approving more PPP projects

The government is not worried about relying on tycoons’ deep pockets to finance almost a third of the project cost of the Duterte administration’s updated “Build, Build, Build” pipeline given more stringent rules on private sector participation.

“I think we will be able to approve many of them very soon. The policy is now very clear about us wanting to ensure that PPP (public-private partnership) projects do not have what we feel are disadvantageous provisions in the past like a lot of contingent liability exposure on the part of the government, automatic increases in user fees,” presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects Vivencio B. Dizon said when asked about the surge in unsolicited PPP projects in the Build, Build, Build pipeline.

The unsolicited PPP projects in the transport and mobility sector amounted to a total of P1.39 trillion or nearly a third of the total project cost of the 100 “flagship” projects worth at least P4.3 trillion.

Unsolicited PPP proposals need to undergo Swiss challenge, under which other companies can bid for the project and the best bid will have to be matched by the original proponent, before projects are awarded.

Pundits say there could be lack of competition in unsolicited proposals as interested parties need time to prepare their offers and match those of the proponents who had the headway in preparing feasibility studies and their proposals.

Dizon, who also heads the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said the government was working on specific guidelines for unsolicited PPP projects.

“But I think the new contracts will serve as templates for them,” Dizon said, referring to the recent PPP contracts entered into by the government, such as that for the “hybrid” Clark International Airport.

The PPP Center’s website showed that 19 PPP projects were under implementation, of which 15 projects worth a combined P242.8 billion had been solicited, with most of them rolled out by the previous administration.

Four other PPP projects being implemented at present amounted to P821.6 billion, bringing the total project cost of PPP projects under implementation to P1.06 trillion.

Three of the unsolicited projects already under implementation were included on the updated Build, Build, Build list—the P70.8-billion Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 of SMC Mass Rail Transit 7 Inc.; P23.3-billion NLEx-SLEx Connector Road Project of Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), and San Miguel Holdings Corp.’s P735.6-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.