More PPP projects planned

With additional funds for public-private partnership (PPP) projects from three donors expected in the next few months, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said more projects may be rolled out this year.

Neda Director General Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) disclosure of a possible total of $18.5-million grant for the PPP projects from the Australian and Canadian governments and the Manila-based multilateral development bank itself is a “vote of confidence” for  PPP initiatives of the Aquino administration.

Canberra’s share would come from the Australian Agency for International Development (Ausaid) and Ottawa’s from the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida).

For 2012, the Neda and the PPP Center expect to roll out a minimum of eight PPP projects. But the Neda could not say outright if the additional funds meant more projects were possible.

“They’ve been very helpful, ADB, Ausaid and Cida, in helping us to equip ourselves to be able to be more effective in the lines of developing projects. So we think of this [$18.5-million grant] as a vote of confidence in what the Philippines has been doing and [in President Aquino’s] program on public-private partnerships,” Paderanga said.

He added that counterpart funding for the $18.5-million grant will be covered by the P160 million in PPP allotment in the government’s 2012 budget and by  PPP funds of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Agriculture, and the Project Development Monitoring Fund (PDMF) of P550 million.

The PPP Center disclosed that among the projects expected for rollout this year as of March 2012 are the Automatic Fare Collection System, Balara Water Hub, Cala Expressway (Cavite and Laguna Side), Cold-Chain Systems Covering Strategic Areas in the Philippines; Grains Central Project and Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building.

Other projects include Modernization of  Philippine Orthopedic Center, New Bohol (Panglao) Airport, New Centennial Water Supply Source, North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway Connector Road, Operation and Maintenance of Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant Auxilliary Turbines 4 and 5; Operation and Maintenance of Laguindingan Airport, Operation and Maintenance of Puerto Princesa Airport and Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Project Phase II.

Documents obtained by the BusinessMirror earlier showed that another 43 PPP projects are in the pipeline, including 15 projects to be implemented by the Department of Transportation and Communications, around nine by the Department of Public Works and Highways, eight by local government units and two each by the Department of Agriculture and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

Also in the pipeline are one project each for the education, justice, finance, foreign affairs and national defense departments; Technical Education and Skills Development Authority; Land Transportation Office; National Irrigation Administration; and Office of the Solicitor General. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, Businessmirror