THERE’S an ocean-wide chasm between optimism and delusion.

This is especially seen in major infrastructure projects, as University of Toronto Prof. Matti Siemiatycki wrote eight years ago.

“Optimism bias has been a considerable challenge in the planning and delivery of public services, particularly infrastructure megaprojects,” Siemiatycki said in his paper, titled “Managing Optimism Biases in the Delivery of Large-Infrastructure Projects: A Corporate Performance Benchmarking Approach.” “This has resulted in consistently underestimated costs and overestimated benefits, as well as delivery delays.”

The words of Siemiatycki, who has spent “the last 15 years studying infrastructure, with a focus on public-private partnerships [PPP],” rings true for the Philippines, as the government embarks on its own PPP projects and the “Build, Build, Build” program.

For one, the country could expect the Aquino administration-inspired PPP Program to be revitalized. At least five national infrastructure deals would be introduced this year. According to Ferdinand A. Pecson, who sits as executive director at the Philippines’s PPP Center, the agency will push for two priority projects and three unsolicited proposals.

Pecson listed the national projects under the pipeline as the operations and maintenance of the Clark International Airport, and the construction, operation and maintenance of the San Ramon New Port.

The three unsolicited proposals are the East-West Railway, the Manila Bay Flood Control and the New Manila Airport.

These proposals are currently in the Investment Coordination Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

PPP Terms

BUT more than national projects, the PPP Center will also give prime importance to local government unit (LGU)-led PPP deals.

“In line with the current direction of the government to disperse infrastructure development across different regions, the PPP Center is intensifying its efforts in encouraging more viable PPP projects at the local level by expanding its local government unit (LGU) initiatives,” Pecson said.

Last September 18 the agency, together with the Asian Development Bank, launched its expanded LGU PPP Strategy, which is split into three categories: short term (immediate), medium term (one to two years) and long term (two to five years).

“For the short term, the PPP Center shall provide focused advisory assistance to LGUs, which will implement PPP, including joint-venture projects, covering identified priority sectors, such as water-supply and/or septage management and sanitation, solid-waste management, vertical infrastructures—public markets, government complex, among others—and transport terminals,” Pecson said.

Capacity-building support for LGUs, he added, will also be further enhanced via customized trainings and stronger collaboration with local public or private capacity-building institutions.

“For the medium term, successful LGU PPP projects shall be replicated by developing templates of project studies and PPP contracts and cascading these to applicable LGUs through internship programs and local capacity-building institutions,” he said.

And, for the longer term, the agency aims to expand its support to include project-development services, such as crafting of feasibility studies and the creation of a facility similar to the existing Project Development and Monitoring Facility to support local PPPs.

Miaa projects

MEANWHILE, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa), operator of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, looks forward to 2018 with two major projects that it hopes would reduce considerably the runway congestion by year’s end.

One is the rapid exit taxiway (RET) that would help large-body aircraft from leaving the runway as soon as it lands, and the other is the closed-circuit television (CCTV) project.

Once completed, the new RET would pave the way for a waiting jetliner to immediately take off. On the other hand, airplanes succeeding to land on the same 06-24 runway would be able to touch down within the second that the leading airplane had exited the RET.

“In both instances, air-traffic controllers would be able to close the gap between takeoff and landing, thus reducing the time intervals, which would mean less air congestions,” Miaa General Manager Ed Monreal said in an interview.

“The new RET is for larger aircraft, such as the A330, A340 and A350, including B777 and above,” Monreal explained. The RET’s completion is expected in July with a project cost of P305 million. The civil works was pegged at P212 and the electrical at P93 million.

Miaa CCTV

ON the other hand, Monreal pointed to an ongoing bidding for the P486-million CCTV project of the past administration that was unceremoniously junked.

During the term of former airport Manager Jose Honrado, the project was put on the block twice, and twice there was a failure of bidding. It was then rumored that the Miaa headman was allegedly trying to favor a bidder with strong links to Malacañang.

This time, to avoid any suspicion of wrongdoings, Monreal said he has allowed the bidding of the CCTV to be handled by the Procurement Services of the Department of Budget Management (PSDBM).

“Although the Miaa is officially allowed to conduct the bidding process, I don’t want to be subjected to outside pressure and, therefore, I [tossed] the problem to the PSDBM for the P480-million project.”

According to Jess Martinez, the head of the Media Affairs Division, the CCTV cameras would not only be confined within the airport passenger terminals.

“This project is very expensive because it would cover the whole Miaa aerodrome, which means all the facilities within the confines of the 645-hectare property of the premier airport.”

By Recto Mercene & Lorenz S. Marasigan
December 8, 2018