MANILA, Philippines - The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) has thrown its support to the plan of the government to focus on solicited mode of procurement for the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“We support the recent pronouncement of President Aquino and his economic managers that the government will focus on the solicited mode of procurement in contracting for PPP projects,” JFC said in a statement.
“We believe that all priority projects should be solicited and awarded through public bidding, and that removing projects from the priority list must be avoided. Global experience shows that PPP investment best occurs under open, competitive conditions,” the group added.
JFC said that the PPP program of the Aquino Administration is the best way to attract strong private sector equity investment, whether domestic or foreign, to accelerate infrastructure development in the Philippines.
Within the context of the PPP Initiative of government, JFC said it is important to solve some of the existing BOT (build operate transfer) / PPP cases that have gone wrong and find solutions to protect long-term investors against regulatory risks.
JFC said that while the unsolicited route is allowed under the BOT Act, the solicited route is more transparent and more competitive. The resulting contract is more likely to be accepted when there is a change of government and to survive legislative and judicial review. Participation by international financial institutions and investors is also higher in solicited projects.
“We will continue to support the Philippine Government in the effective implementation of its PPP program so that priority projects will be tendered, awarded, and implemented with full transparency and competition. We strongly recommend that a pipeline of bankable PPP projects be developed to attract investors,” JFC said.