By Cai U. Ordinario, June 3, 2024; Business Mirror
The national government’s pipeline for public private partnerships (PPPs) now covers 134 projects amounting to P3.03 trillion, according to the PPP Center.
The pipeline was recently updated to include 13 new projects, estimated to cost at least P38 billion, and delisted four projects. With this, the pipeline is shorter than the 137 projects initially included which amounted to P3.1 trillion.
The four delisted projects were the Cavite Tagaytay Batangas Expressway Project; Unsolicited Proposal for EDSA Bus Rapid Transit (BRT); Unsolicited Proposal for the Development, Operations, and Management of the Davao International Airport; and Advance Passenger Processing and Passenger Name Record (APP-PNR).
“The change in the number of projects in the pipeline is due to the addition in the list of unsolicited proposals endorsed by the PPP Center to Implementing Agencies [IA] for their decision to proceed with detailed evaluation or rejection of the same; addition of projects included in the Lists of PPP Projects submitted by IAs to the PPP Center; [and] delisting of PPP projects,” the PPP Center said in a document it recently shared with reporters.
In terms of the latest addition to the PPP pipeline, the largest projects were Pampanga Bulk Water Supply Project and Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services, which were estimated to cost P18.70 billion and P16.89 billion, respectively.
The Pampanga Bulk Water Supply Project is an unsolicited proposal that is currently under evaluation by the IA. It will be undertaken by the provincial government of Pampanga and Manila Water Philippine Ventures Inc.
The Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services, meanwhile, is also an unsolicited proposal that has been endorsed to an IA for their decision to proceed with the detailed evaluation. It will be undertaken by the Bureau of Immigration and Securiport LLC.
Of the 13 projects added to the list, two still do not have cost estimates as they are under conceptualization. These are the establishment of Bulk Water Facility for La Union and the La Union Integrated Terminal Exchange.
The PPP Center also said there are no cost estimates yet for three projects due to the need for verification. These are the establishment of Dialysis Center in all Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) District Hospitals (DH) and La Union Medical Center (LUMC), and the Bus Rapid Transit System in Cavite.
Earlier, the PPP Center said it expects at least 20 solicited projects to advance to the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and/or the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) for approval this year.
Initially, PPP Center Undersecretary and Executive Director Ma. Cynthia C. Hernandez said only 15 projects are expected to be approved this year.
Hernandez said there could be more projects, depending on the number of unsolicited projects that could be submitted for ICC or Neda Board evaluation and approval. Right after the passage of the PPP Code, the PPP Center has already processed 20 unsolicited projects.