The development, operations and maintenance of five regional airports via public-private partnership (PPP) has been terminated by the government, and will be funded instead under General Appropriations Act (GAA) or with official development assistance (ODA).
“We received confirmation that the procurement of the much-anticipated regional airport PPP Projects (New Bohol, Davao, Iloilo, Laguindigan, and Bacolod) has been terminated,” the PPP Center said on Tuesday.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said doing the projects under the GAA would be more beneficial to the public.
“Doing the airports on GAA makes the project cheaper as the cost of money is lower thus more beneficial to the public. Project completion is more efficient and faster, and helps avoid legal surprises that may cause regrettable delay,” Tugade said.
“The decision was brought about through collegial discussions, including the economic clusters and congressional leaders,” Tugade emphasized.
The five airports were originally approved as a single PPP project by the Investment Coordination Committee and the National Economic Development Authority Board.
In November 2016, NEDA approved unbundling the project. As a result procurement processes such as pre-qualification and bid submissions were modified.
The PPP Center said it respects the decision made by the transport agencies even if it believes in the credibility of projects structured as PPPs.
24 May 2017
By Reicelene Joy Ignacio
