spot_img
28.4 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Albay adopts local version of PPP code 

- Advertisement -

LEGAZPI CITY—The province of Albay has adopted a local version of the Public-Private Partnership code for the implementation of big infrastructure projects in the province designed to pursue unhampered economic growth, and become a development hub in Bicol and Southern Luzon.

Gov. Joey Salceda said the new “Public-Private Partnership Code of Albay” could be regarded as a major breakthrough in local government administration, that will pave the way for implementing monumental infrastructure projects for economic growth—under the build, operate and transfer scheme  in a “climate of minimum government regulations.”

Salceda said Albay could probably be the first province to have drawn its own local PPP code, as it stands in the threshold of becoming the development hub in Southern Luzon, most particularly the Bicol Region. BOT is regarded as the easier way to administer big government infrastructure development.

The Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan, headed by Vice Gov. Harold Ong Imperial, recently approved the local PPP code which provides “clear guidelines for public-private partnerships by the province and its component local government units.”

Salceda said the Local Government Code allows LGUs to enter “into joint ventures and such other cooperative engagements with non-government and people’s organizations to engage in the delivery of certain basic services…”

- Advertisement -

Among others, the Albay PPP Code aims to identify specific undertakings and potential support, financial or otherwise, that may be granted to the Project Proponents, as well as specific incentives as provided for under the Local Government Investment Code, the governor said.

As chairman of the Bicol Regional Development Council for nine years now, and the Luzon Area Development Council for three years, Salceda has sponsored and pushed for big infrastructure projects, among them the Bicol International Airport set to open in 2017, and the national government’s P171-billion South Rail Line of the North-South Railways system, now being rescheduled for bidding under the PPP scheme.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles