4 PPP proposals get funds for pre-investment studies

MANILA, Philippines - The government’s Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) board approved last week the applications for funding of pre-investment studies for four Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects.

These PPP projects comprise three airport-related ventures and one involving an automatic transport fare collection system. Specifically, these cover the construction, operation and maintenance of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) New Passenger Terminal Building; the operation and maintenance of a new Bohol Airport; the operation and maintenance of the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis, Oriental; and the establishment of an Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) for LRT 1, LRT 2 and MRT3.

The PDMF met last week regarding the four projects, which were presented by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Managed by the PPP Center, the PDMF is a funding pool to enable proponent agencies to come up with viable and well-prepared PPP project proposals.

The PDMF has been established with P300 million financing from the government and co-financed by Australia, which provided $6 million under a technical assistance package from the Asian Development Bank.

Two weeks ago, two projects were also approved for PDMF support. These are the Department of Health’s Philippine Orthopedic Center Modernization Project and the Department of Education’s PPP for School Infrastructure Project which aims to build 10,000 additional classrooms for the country.

Rolando G. Tungpalan, chairman of the PDMF board and deputy director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said all concerned agencies are working hard to properly utilize the PDMF “to ensure that the projects will meet international standards that will allow for very good investments” in the country.

Other agencies in the PDMF board are the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management and the PPP Center.

A competitively selected firm from among a roster of nine national and international consulting firms will assist in the conduct of the pre-investment studies.