Government slates P141.5-B PPP projects for approval

By Danessa O. Rivera (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 15, 2015 - 12:00am


The Aquino administration aims to award 15 PPP contracts within its term. So far, nine PPP projects with a total indicative cost of P136.37 billion were awarded since 2010. File photo
MANILA, Philippines - Four Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects worth P141.52 billion are tabled for approval at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) committee level meeting today.
The projects will be tackled by the joint NEDA Investment Coordination Council Technical Board and Cabinet Committee (ICC-TB and CC) in a meeting today, PPP Center deputy executive director Eleazar Ricote said in an interview last week on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting in Bagac, Bataan.
Three projects are under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), namely the P6.28-billion C-5 Modern Bus Transit System Project, the P50.15-billion Ortigas-Taytay LRT Line 4 Project and the P74.56-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Development Project.
The remaining project is the P10.53-billion Batangas-Manila (BatMan) 1 Natural Gas Pipeline Project of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC).
The projects are listed in the PPP Center website as “projects that are currently undergoing evaluation by the appropriate government body.”
Once approved by the NEDA ICC-TB and CC, the projects will be endorsed to the Cabinet level NEDA Board led by President Aquino for final approval, Ricote said.
 “[There’s a] high chance of these being approved [since] these are priority projects,” he said.
The C-5 Modern Bus Transit System Project will improve the connectivity of the cities of Paranaque, Taguig, Makati, Quezon City and Valenzuela with a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system along the C-5 corridor.
The Ortigas-Taytay LRT Line 4 Project is a proposed 11-kilometer rail line running west from the SM City at Taytay to the intersection of Ortigas Avenue and EDSA in Ortigas.
The NAIA Development project, on the other hand, will improve, upgrade and enhance the operational efficiencies of all existing terminals of NAIA to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
Meanwhile, the BatMan 1 Natural Gas Pipeline Project of PNOC, so far the only energy-related project under the flagship PPP program of the Aquino administration,  involves the construction of a 121-kilometer transmission pipelines from Batangas to Metro Manila.
The Aquino administration aims to award 15 PPP contracts within its term.
So far, nine PPP projects with a total indicative cost of P136.37 billion were awarded since 2010.
These include the Daang Hari–South Luzon expressway link road (P2 billion), PPP for School Infrastructure Project phase 1 (P8.86 billion), the PSIP-2 (P16.28 billion), the modernization project for the Philippine Orthopedic Center (P5.98 billion), the Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway (P15.52 billion), the automated fare collection system project (P1.72 billion), the Mactan–Cebu international airport expansion project (P17.5 billion), the Light Rail Transit line 1 Cavite extension project (P65 billion), and the Integrated Transport System ITS – Southwest Terminal (P3.15 billion).
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