Balisacan: 8 PPPs in 2012 unlikely

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) thinks the government will not be able to deliver all 8 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects it promised this year.  

During a press briefing on the Philippines’ third-quarter growth on Wednesday, November 28, NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan admitted that the rollout of the PPP projects will take more time than they thought.

But Balisacan said the government is not giving up on the PPP program.

“We are not giving up on PPPs. We will push harder [even if] we had some hiccups in implementation and unexpected problems,” he said.

“We’ve learned a lot from the last 12 months [so we will] able to move faster next year,” he added.

In order to “push” projects along, Balisacan said the NEDA board, the highest policymaking body of the NEDA and is chaired by the President, may discuss and approve at least 3 PPP projects in its meeting on Thursday, November 29. 

The 3 PPPs are the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALA), the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) – South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) Connector road project, and the second batch of the PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) of the Department of Education.

The CALA expressway costs $1 billion and will connect the Manila-Cavite Expressway and South Luzon Expressway (SLEx).

The $504.8 million-worth NLEx-SLEx Connector road is a 13.4-kilometer elevated expressway over the Philippine National Railway, which starts in Caloocan City and ends in Buendia, Makati City. It aims to decongest traffic in Metro Manila.

The first batch of the PSIP was worth $389 million, and was awarded to the consortiums of Citicore Holdings Investment Inc.-Megawide Construction Corp. Inc. and BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp.

For the NLEx-SLEx road, two firms have presented their proposals to President Benigno Aquino III. The two firms are Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp., led by its chairman Manuel Pangilinan, and San Miguel Corp-backed Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., headed by San Miguel President Ramon Ang.

The proposals must be approved by the NEDA board first before they could be bid out or implemented. – Rappler.com