MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Sunday, October 21, announced the release of P1.96 billion to support projects under the Aquino administration’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program.

The PPP program looks to the private sector to finance the construction and operation of the government’s development projects in exchange for incentives. Of the total amount released by the DBM, P1.63 billion will go to the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) while P328 million is allotted for the Department of Public Works and Higways (DPWH) right-of-way acquisition costs.

DepEd’s PSIP involves the design, construction and maintenance of 9,301 classrooms, some school furniture and toilet facilities across Regions I, III and IV-A. The allotted amount will cover the first-year lease payment of the project, with the government planning to make an annual payment of P1.63 billion until 2021 to acquire the classrooms.

“President Aquino intends to fill the longstanding classroom gap in our public school system. By working closely with the private sector, we can expedite classroom construction and do it in a cost-efficient way, so that our students and teachers will have enough classrooms by 2013,” Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement.

The release of the P328 million to the DPWH on the other hand, makes up the government’s contribution to the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), an 88.58-kilometer, two-lane expressway that passes through Tarlac City, Tarlac, Pangasinan and reaches Rosario, La Union which is expected to be open for use by May 2013.

The remaining P180,000 will be used for tree replacements that were affected by the construction. – Rappler.com