THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION aims to auction off up to 17 public-private partnership (PPP) projects until next year as the government struggles to catch up with the country’s infrastructure backlog, the state socioeconomic planning chief said yesterday.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Ernesto M. Pernia said PPP projects already under various stages of procurement will be pursued by the Duterte administration, with 17 projects targeted to be auctioned off by end-2017.
“We will try to do all of those between now and the end of 2017, maybe even earlier,” Mr. Pernia told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing in Manila.
“Unless there are problems with those projects, I think most of them can go,” he added.
“Those up for NEDA Board approval are part of the low-hanging fruits. It’s the last hurdle for the project before bidding it out.”
Mr. Pernia said the NEDA Board may convene shortly after President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address on July 25 to approve the first batch of such projects.
The projects, which had already been on the PPP pipeline under former President Benigno S.C. Aquino III, are estimated to be worth some P580 billion, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo.
The 17 targeted projects could include the P170.7-billion South Line of the North-South Railway Project, the P23.2-billion connector road between the North and South Luzon expressways, and a cumulative P108.19 billion to develop, maintain, and operate regional airports, according to a list on the PPP Center’s Web site dated July 1. Those that could be auctioned off this year include the Light Rail Transit Line 6 Project, for which submission of pre-qualification documents has been set on September 9.
Contracts for 12 PPP projects cumulatively worth P217.4 billion were awarded under the Aquino administration shortly after it started its six-year stint in the third quarter of 2010.
Mr. Pernia said the newly seated administration will likely retain current PPP Center Executive Director Andre C. Palacios “for a while” so as not to disrupt the implementation of various infrastructure projects, and to manage a smooth transition to a new head who Mr. Duterte will appoint.
“All those PPP projects that are already shovel-ready are going to be implemented. As I said, this administration will not do what the last administration did... to stop a project for two years. We will just continue them,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said during the briefing.
“We want jobs to be created right away, we want the economy to chug along and even accelerate,” Mr. Duterte added.
Also part of the plan is to trim the period between project proposal and award of contracts to less than two years from the current 2.5-year average.
“We plan to reduce the time... from the start to bidding. The average length of time spent from the consideration of project proposal to bidding is about 29-30 months. We will try to cut that down to a third maybe, so things will move faster,” Mr. Pernia said.
“There are many layers of approval, so we were thinking of reducing the layer and the number of departments that have to approve the project.”
24/7 CONSTRUCTION EYED
The government also aims to ensure round-the-clock construction of public works.
“We are considering 24/7 construction for major Metro Manila projects, maybe even projects in Cebu and Davao. This is in recognition of economic costs of project delays, the estimate is about P2.3 billion a day,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said.
“To get things done much faster, we will work 24 hours, seven days a week. That also will impact on employment -- from one shift to two shifts of workers.”
The Budget chief said this change will cover “major” road projects under PPP and other high-impact programs.
“We have to coordinate first. We have to take into account also the capability of our contractors, but we’ll try our best, most probably within the year,” incoming Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar told reporters, noting that officials are yet to finish looking at pending projects that they will prioritize for 24/7 work.
“We are playing a lot of catch-up here... We have to realize that we have to make more roads, fix the roads and make them wider,” Mr. Dominguez said.
In particular, he named a 200-hectare reclamation plan between Lanang and Davao River as a major project in Mindanao.
The Duterte administration’s 10-point economic agenda include boosting infrastructure spending to at least 5% of gross domestic product every year.
“We will try to do all of those between now and the end of 2017, maybe even earlier,” Mr. Pernia told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing in Manila.
“Unless there are problems with those projects, I think most of them can go,” he added.
“Those up for NEDA Board approval are part of the low-hanging fruits. It’s the last hurdle for the project before bidding it out.”
Mr. Pernia said the NEDA Board may convene shortly after President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address on July 25 to approve the first batch of such projects.
The projects, which had already been on the PPP pipeline under former President Benigno S.C. Aquino III, are estimated to be worth some P580 billion, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo.
The 17 targeted projects could include the P170.7-billion South Line of the North-South Railway Project, the P23.2-billion connector road between the North and South Luzon expressways, and a cumulative P108.19 billion to develop, maintain, and operate regional airports, according to a list on the PPP Center’s Web site dated July 1. Those that could be auctioned off this year include the Light Rail Transit Line 6 Project, for which submission of pre-qualification documents has been set on September 9.
Contracts for 12 PPP projects cumulatively worth P217.4 billion were awarded under the Aquino administration shortly after it started its six-year stint in the third quarter of 2010.
Mr. Pernia said the newly seated administration will likely retain current PPP Center Executive Director Andre C. Palacios “for a while” so as not to disrupt the implementation of various infrastructure projects, and to manage a smooth transition to a new head who Mr. Duterte will appoint.
“All those PPP projects that are already shovel-ready are going to be implemented. As I said, this administration will not do what the last administration did... to stop a project for two years. We will just continue them,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said during the briefing.
“We want jobs to be created right away, we want the economy to chug along and even accelerate,” Mr. Duterte added.
Also part of the plan is to trim the period between project proposal and award of contracts to less than two years from the current 2.5-year average.
“We plan to reduce the time... from the start to bidding. The average length of time spent from the consideration of project proposal to bidding is about 29-30 months. We will try to cut that down to a third maybe, so things will move faster,” Mr. Pernia said.
“There are many layers of approval, so we were thinking of reducing the layer and the number of departments that have to approve the project.”
24/7 CONSTRUCTION EYED
The government also aims to ensure round-the-clock construction of public works.
“We are considering 24/7 construction for major Metro Manila projects, maybe even projects in Cebu and Davao. This is in recognition of economic costs of project delays, the estimate is about P2.3 billion a day,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said.
“To get things done much faster, we will work 24 hours, seven days a week. That also will impact on employment -- from one shift to two shifts of workers.”
The Budget chief said this change will cover “major” road projects under PPP and other high-impact programs.
“We have to coordinate first. We have to take into account also the capability of our contractors, but we’ll try our best, most probably within the year,” incoming Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar told reporters, noting that officials are yet to finish looking at pending projects that they will prioritize for 24/7 work.
“We are playing a lot of catch-up here... We have to realize that we have to make more roads, fix the roads and make them wider,” Mr. Dominguez said.
In particular, he named a 200-hectare reclamation plan between Lanang and Davao River as a major project in Mindanao.
The Duterte administration’s 10-point economic agenda include boosting infrastructure spending to at least 5% of gross domestic product every year.
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