The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center on Thursday, March 9, assured that the Duterte administration is committed to improve the country’s infrastructure using quicker approval processes.
In a press briefing in Malacañan, PPP Center Executive Director Ferdinand Pecson reported about completed as well as ongoing projects, noting that the government’s approval process has become shorter.
“The President is impatient and, in fact, the message we are getting from him is that he is more concerned with the results rather than cropping up with a lot of documents being submitted to him,” Pecson said.
Pecson noted that in the last NEDA Board meeting a year ago, quite a number of projects were approved very quickly. He said there are also measures set in place to prevent anomaly from happening during the implementation of those PPP projects.
Currently, the Philippine PPP program has 50 projects in the pipeline worth P472.9 billion, Pecson said.
Completed projects are the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, the NAIA Expressway, and the Automated Fare Collection System, more popularly known as the Beep Card.
The latest project to be completed is the Department of Education’s Phase 1 of the PPP for school buildings and infrastructure project, erecting 9,266 classrooms. The project benefits an approximately half a million students in the Ilocos, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon regions.
Pecson also reported that there are seven PPP projects simultaneously being built by the government’s private partners, in which four are transportation projects.
Among these projects include the Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s new passenger terminal, the MRT-7, and the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3. These projects are expected to benefit millions of commuters and motorists.
Another project that will help address the country’s transportation challenges is the Southwest Integrated Transport System, located within a 4.59-hectare land of the Philippine Reclamation Authority along the Manila-Cavite Expressway.
There are also four other transportation projects that are in different stages of pre-construction activities: the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension, the Cavite Laguna Expressway, South Integrated Transport System, and the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road.
Other PPP projects under construction include the Bulacan Bulk Water System and the computerization of the Civil Registry System of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The PPP Center official also reported about the five regional airport projects under the Duterte government. These are the airports in Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan in Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, and New Bohol Panglao.
Another PPP project under procurement is the Regional Prison Facilities of the Department of Justice. The bid submission is scheduled in April 2017.
A modern prison facility will be constructed in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija to provide inmates at the existing penal facilities such as the New Bilibid Prison and the correctional institution for women, Pecson said.
PPP projects that are under review by implementing agencies are the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project, the LRT Line 6, NAIA PPP, North-South Rail Project South Line, Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline Project, and the Davao Sasa Port Modernization Project, according to Pecson.
In the same press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella took note of Australian firms favoring the Philippines as a BPO destination.
Abella also announced that five Chinese investors have shown interest in investing in the Philippines. The Department of Trade and Industry received the Letters of Intent from five Chinese firms, which showed their interest in doing business in the Philippines.
These are Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), International Aero-Development Corporation, Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group Co., Huili Investment Fund Management, Dalian Wanyang Heavy Industries, and YiDingTai International.
“These investments would generate a total of 15,500 jobs for Filipinos by 2022 in industries such as aviation, oil downstream, renewable energy, iron and steel, and shipbuilding and ship repair,” Abella said. ###PND
