STATE-LED Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) targets to break ground by early 2021 for its envisioned “iconic” building project that will re-develop the agency’s 5.3-hectare property at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City, an official of the Energy department said.
“We are engaging the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center to move the project forward,” Jesus Cristino P. Posadas, undersecretary of the Department of Energy (DoE), told reporters.
“We found out they (PPP Center) have a project development and monitoring facility which can be used to engage the required consultants in the different aspects [of the project],” he added.
Mr. Posadas, who is the DoE official tasked to oversee the project, said the PPP Center offers technical, financial, legal and transactional advisory services that could help in conceptualizing the project.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi is the ex-officio chairman of PNOC. He referred to Mr. Posadas as the point person in the iconic building project of the DoE’s corporate arm.
Mr. Posadas said the target is for the project to “at least break ground at the beginning of 2021.”
“It starts with a submission of a concept note through the PPP Center for tapping the project development and monitoring facility. It’s a fund, and they will have access to these international grade consultants,” he said.
Asked for assurance that the project will continue beyond the current administration, Mr. Posadas said once the project will have broken ground the private sector company that would undertake the property development should have been contracted.
“We are looking really at a BoT (build-operate-transfer),” Mr. Posadas said, referring to the ownership scheme for the project. “Of course, that is subject to the consultants that will give those pathways.”
“It starts first with the masterplan, then for the consultant that will give the different business models, then of course we will have to ask our principals. We have two principals, PNOC and DoE, and we really have to work together,” he said.
The PPP Center serves as the central coordinating and monitoring agency for all public-private partnership projects in the Philippines.
In its website, the PPP center said it had conducted an orientation workshop on project concept note development for the DoE and PNOC on Jan. 10, 2019 in Taguig City. It said the objective of the activity was to enable the two government agencies to prepare a sound project concept for the iconic building project, “which will not only house energy-related government offices but will also serve commercial and tourism purposes.” — Victor V. Saulon
