Source: Philippine Information Agency
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, June 20 (PIA)– The public-private partnership (PPP) scheme of the national government has got a boost of support from the local government units (LGUs) in SocCSKSarGen (South Cotabato-Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos City).
City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio, chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC) 12 lauded the public-private partnership as she described it an effective tool “to spur development in the countryside.”
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in collaboration with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has launched PPP here inviting elected officials and representatives from the different LGUs and key national line agencies in Region 12.
Custodio said she strongly supports PPP as government strategy to help realize various development projects particularly infrastructures that will facilitate progress in SocCSKSarGen.
“I believe that PPP will accelerate growth and development, thus, in the long run reduce poverty in the country and in the region as well,” Mayor Custodio said, adding it can also help improve local delivery of basic services to the public. .
PPP is also known as the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or the privatization scheme popularized by the predecessors of President Benigno S. Aquino Jr.
But the Aquino administration has recently enhanced the scheme and renamed it PPP to bolster partnership between the government and the private sectors.
Antonino also commended the national government for enhancing PPP scheme confident that once it will be adopted by all LGUs, it would mean “additional resource for local governments in terms of revenues and other economic gains.”
She also acknowledged the importance of private entities in local development and nation building saying the private sectors “are better equipped as they have the capacity to finance huge projects compared to government.”
PPP is a partnership between a private sector and the government to enter into any legitimate development undertaking such as infrastructure projects that will have impact to the country’s growth and the people’s quality of living.
One of the features of PPP that Antonino strongly subscribed to is the prioritization of the local private sectors to enter into business ventures with the government.
“PPP scheme is not just relegated to foreign investors but also it is something local investors can venture into,” she stressed.
Earlier, Sarangani Governor Migs Dominguez also expressed his confidence over PPP describing it as effective means to boost investments at the local level.
Eleazar Ricote, director of PPP Center of the Philippines described PPP as “a range of possible contractual arrangements between public (government) and private entities (usually a consortium) to provide and/or deliver infrastructures and/or development projects or services.”
As a contractual arrangement, he said both parties are obliged to honor the contract according to its terms and conditions that were agreed upon. LGUs can enter into a BOT or PPP as provided for in Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code.
Other variants of PPP include the BOT itself, build and transfer, build-own-and-operate, build-lease-and-transfer, build-transfer-and-operate, contract-add-and-operate, develop-operate-and-transfer, rehab-own-and-transfer, among others.
Ricote enumerated power development; highways/roads; railroads and railways; ports; airports; transport systems; telecommunications; information communications technology (ICT) systems/facilities; canal, drainage, irrigation; waterways; sewerage systems and land reclamations as just among those projects eligible for PPP. (CTA/PIA General Santos City)
