Gov’t to issue PPP guidelines in flagship list

The government will issue the guidelines for projects that will be pursued through the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said yesterday.

Around 26 projects to be implemented through PPP have been included in the revised list of flagship infrastructure projects under the government’s Build Build Build program.

The revised list of 100 projects – from the original 75 – was approved during Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-Cabcom) and the Infrastructure Committee (Infracom) composed of multiple agencies involved in infrastructure development.

These projects, collectively valued at P4.2 trillion, will include projects in transport, railways, bridges, highways, power, urban development and water. The value of the 100 flagship projects will make up half of the more than P8 trillion investments for projects under the Build Build Build program.

In increasing the participation of the private sector in infrastructure development, Pernia said the government would maintain its position of not giving guarantees and subsidies and non-inclusion of Material Adverse Government Action (MAGA) in contracts with the private sector.

“We want to make sure that PPP projects are going to benefit the people. That is why we don’t want government guarantees, subsidies and anything having to do with MAGA,” Pernia said in a briefing yesterday.

“You can see that we are very restrictive. It took us over a year to pass the O&M (operations and maintenance) for the Bohol Panglao International Airport because it went through several iterations,” he added.

MAGA provisions in government contracts allow the private sector to claim compensation from the government if its inability to fulfill a part of an agreement causes delay or hindrance to the project.

This may include the government’s failure to resolve right-of-way issues in projects.

The list of flagship projects under the government’s ambitious Build Build Build program is revised to include more, but smaller projects in the region that are still “game changing.”

Instead of having 75 big-ticket projects, there will instead be around 100 flagship projects that are smaller and more doable in terms of technology and available financing.