THE PPP Center showcased its pipeline of projects to Canadian companies to further increase the participation of foreign investors in the Aquino administration’s flagship infrastructure program.
The roadshow, organized by Canada’s Trade Commissioners Service, covered Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto on November 30, December 2 and 4. It was tagged as Business Opportunities and PPPs in Infrastructure Sector in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines was the lone country that sent a delegation headed by PPP Center Project Development and Monitoring Facility Director Rina Alzate.
Alzate briefed the Canadian investors on the latest developments and initiatives in public-private partnership program.
“We have improved our PPP processes. We now have a sound legal and regulatory framework,” she said.
She also talked of the various PPP projects in the pipeline.
“We are currently bidding out 13 projects and 2 are set for tender. There are also 6 projects that are up for approval of relevant government bodies,” she added.
Investors from the Philippines and overseas took part in the bidding process of the projects.
“Our PPP projects are consistently on the radar of international and local investors,” she emphasized.
“In fact, one of our projects, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which now has improvements and upgrades underway, was won by a consortium of local and foreign companies . . . Megawide and GMR Infrastructure,” she said.
Canadian companies were offered a wide range of business opportunities during the roadshow, including consultancies, financing and investing.
The roadshow also highlighted the significant contribution and role of the Philippines in the establishment of other Southeast Asian nations’ PPP program as mentioned by Asian Development Bank (ADB) Principal Private Sector Development Specialist Madeleine Varkay.
‘The Philippines has been a role a model of Southeast Asian countries in structuring their own PPP framework,” Varkay said.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and other non-ASEAN countries like Bhutan, Tonga and Spain have visited the PPP Center to solicit knowledge and information on how the Philippines implemented its own program.
The Canadian firms that joined the three-day roadshow were Canarail, SNC-Lavalin Capital, PSP Investments, Dagua, Palmex, OSSIACO Energy and International, Denton’s Canada, Steel Magnolia Investments, EDC, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, and Fasken Martineau.
The Philippines has been hailed here and abroad for successfully tendering 12 PPP projects. The PPP Center has also been recognized by various institutions for its commitment and successful implementation of the program with partner agencies and development partners.
08 December 2015
By Voltaire Palaña
