THE GOVERNMENT has started reviewing rules of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) law in order to better support its public-private partnership (PPP) program.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a statement on Wednesday that its Infrastructure Committee (InfraCom) consulted earlier this month with representatives of state offices, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and the private sector on proposed changes to the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 6957, which was amended in 1994 by RA 7718.
Noting that changing the BOT law itself in order to better support the PPP program could take some time since it “would have to be amended through legislation,” Rolando G. Tungpalan, NEDA deputy director-general for Investment Programming, said in the statement that “amending the IRR does not need to pass through Congress.”
The BOT law, signed in 1991, provided the legal framework for the private sector to enter into agreements with the government to finance, construct, operate and maintain public infrastructure.
The statement said the proposed amendments include the addition of new project contractual arrangements like joint ventures, concessions and management contracts; restructuring and tightening of eligibility requirement for unsolicited proposals; and changing the composition of project-approving bodies at the national and local levels.
Upon completing its draft, NEDA-InfraCom will submit the proposed amendments to the BOT-IRR Committee headed by NEDA Director-General Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr.
After further public hearings, that committee will submit the final draft to the NEDA Board for approval, the statement read.
Mr. Tungpalan added that NEDA is also looking at other structures that may have to be changed.
“The NEDA has taken major steps in streamlining the investment programming process without sacrificing the integrity and quality of our appraisal. This is to ensure that the fairness of all stakeholders is enshrined, as well as greater transparency in the transactions…,” he said.
Changes in this process includes the introduction of a “risk allocation matrix,” which the statement said gives implementing agencies a better tool to determine how project risks can be addressed.
The government has lined up five PPP projects for auction this year, namely: the operation and maintenance contracts for Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) and Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) worth P7.7 billion and P6.3 billion, respectively; the P1.4-billion 3.68-kilometer Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) link; the P10.59-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway; and the P21-billion North Luzon-South Luzon expressway link.
Two of these five projects have seen concrete developments lately.
The pre-bid conference for the LRT-1 and MRT-3 contracts has been scheduled for May 18 and the bidding on July 11, while the invitation to firms interested in the Daang Hari-SLEx link, which was approved by NEDA’s Cabinet-level Investment Coordination Committee just last April 30, may be published this month.
