THE Aquino government is looking at allocating P22.1 billion of its P1.816 trillion national budget to fund the pubic-private partnership (PPP) program next year.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the fund would support projects involving among others right-of-way purchases and land development in line with large infrastructure projects under the PPP program.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad recently announced that they would be implementing the PPP program by this year’s second half, adding that there has been efficient selection of potential investors for the projects.
The Department of Transportation and Communications is said to receive P8.6 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Health, P3 billion each; Department of Agriculture, P2.5 billion; and the Department of Education, P5 billion.
The budget for this year’s PPP programs was about P12.5 billion.
The first scheduled PPP project ready for bidding this month is the P1.6-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Link Road Project.
Others included in the list of PPP infrastructure projects are contracts for the operation and maintenance of Metro Rail Transit 3 and Light Rail Transit 1; the P10.59-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Phase II Project; and the P21-billion North Luzon Expressway-SLEX Connector Project.
The PPP program is considered to be the centerpiece of the Aquino administration’s economic agenda aimed at tapping private-sector participation in large-scale infrastructure projects that will be carried out from 2011 onward.
The elite Makati Business Club earlier this week noted the “silence” of President Benigno Aquino 3rd on the PPP projects. –Maria Nikka U. Garriga, Manila Times
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