DAVAO CITY—The Duterte administration will expedite the implementation of infrastructure projects under the public-private-partnership scheme, incoming Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said Tuesday.
Dominguez told reporters at the sidelines of the Sulong Pilipinas business consultation forum that infrastructure projects under the PPP program would be implemented within 18 months to 20 months.
He said this would be faster than the average 29 months that it took the outgoing Aquino administration to implement PPP projects.
“I think we can cut that down to maybe 18 to 20 months through speedier and more pro-active processing of these projects,” he said.
The PPP program, launched in 2010, aims to get the private sector as a reliable partner in infrastructure development to promote economic growth.
The government has awarded 12 projects worth over P200 billion since the program was implemented in 2010.
Among the projects launched and awarded by the Aquino administration were Daang Hari-SLEX Link Road (Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway) Project; PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phase I; Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Project (Phase II); PPP for School Infrastructure Project – Phase II; Modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center; and Automatic Fare Collection System.
The Aquino administration also launched Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building; LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension and Operation and Maintenance; Southwest Integrated Transport System (Project; Cavite-Laguna Expressway; South Integrated Transport System Project; and Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project.
Dominguez said the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte would pursue more PPP projects outside the National Capital Region.
“We’ve already said several times that we will not follow the last administration’s policies where basically they stopped the PPP projects for two years,” Dominguez said.
“That’s why the growth rate really dropped in the second year of the previous administration because they didn’t proceed to make the projects,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte would prioritize projects outside Metro Manila to generate employment in the countryside and decongest the nation’s capital to attain inclusive growth.
“I just went through a briefing with the PPP Center which is under Neda [National Economic and Development Authority] and I was really amazed that around 80 percent of the proposed projects are in or around Mega Manila composed of Calabarzon [Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon], Central Luzon and Metro Manila,” Dominguez said.
“So if you’re not a pro-active government in pushing the projects into the regions, they will all congregate around Mega Manila where two-thirds of our GDP [gross domestic product] is produced,” he said.
Dominguez said he wanted more school buildings to be built outside Mega Manila especially in outlying areas. “After all, our President-elect was an outlier, wasn’t he?” Dominguez said.