Government to amend joint venture rules for infra projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration will amend existing joint venture guidelines for infrastructure projects so that all projects will pass through the National Economic and Development Authority- Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC).The move is to ensure transparency, consistency in development policy decision and appropriateness of risk allocation among parties, NEDA Director-General Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said yesterday.

Furthermore, the move is also part of the Aquino administration’s efforts to attract investors to its Public-Private Partnership program for infrastructure.

A PPP is a contractual arrangement between government and the private sector to deliver public infrastructure and public services. It is being pushed by the Aquino administration so that it would have more funds for public health and education.“

A project will be structured in a way that the private sector gets a reasonable rate of return from its contribution while risk allocation is optimized between the parties. This will minimize costs and realize the project’s developmental objectives,” he added.

Paderanga said that through these initiatives, the government can channel and rationalize government resources to other pressing development challenges such as provision of basic social services and general government requirements.

“The government hopes to collaborate further with the private sector on needed legislative and administrative improvements in PPP in the country,” he said.

The NEDA emphasized to private sector investors the importance of new government efforts in improving Public-Private Partnerships and promoting efficiency and transparency in government’s project approval process.“We all know that PPP is not a new strategy. What is new is how we in the government will do things to facilitate optimal private sector participation,” the country’s Socioeconomic Planning chief also said.

In September, President Benigno S. Aquino III issued Executive Order No. 8 renaming the Build-Operate-Transfer Center to the PPP Center and transferring it to the NEDA from the Department of Trade and Industry to NEDA.

“The advantage of the new PPP Center is its proactive role in assisting the sponsoring government units in solicited PPP project development. Its role also extends to monitoring the progress of the concerned projects,” said Paderanga.

“By effectively integrating the PPP into the government’s planning, programming and budgeting processes and policies, the government can realistically plan and provide resources for good projects where the private sector’s participation will be made whole,” he said.