MANILA, Philippines – With President Duterte’s pronouncement his administration would honor existing government contracts and projects awaiting implementation, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center said it would now be able to speed up the implementation of PPP projects.

In his inaugural speech, Duterte issued a verbal order to department secretaries and and heads of agencies to “refrain from changing and bending the rules of government contracts, transactions and projects already approved and awaiting implementation.”

He also mandated transparency in government contracts, projects and business transactions from submission of proposals to implementation.

“With President Duterte’s clear policy instruction to honor government contracts and awarded projects, PPP Center will now push to speed up the implementation of PPP projects. These projects are long overdue, urgently needed, and will greatly benefit the Filipino people,” PPP Center executive director Andre Palacios said in a phone interview.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Duterte’s pronouncement on honoring government contracts is “a good policy stance” as this would give “a strong push” for the new administration’s goal of accelerating infrastructure spending to five percent of the gross domestic product with public-private partnerships playing a key role.

Pernia has said the Duterte administration is keen on speeding up the rollout of projects under the PPP program by streamlining the procurement system and slashing red tape. The goal is to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to implement projects under the program to between 18 to 20 months from the average of 29 months it took to implement 12 PPP projects in the past six years.

Five PPP projects lined up for approval by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board since last year would now be turned over to the next economic administration for review and clearance.

The projects, collectively valued at more than P100 billion, include the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Development Project, Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline Project, Plaridel Bypass Toll Road, Philippine Travel Center Complex, and New Nayong Pilipino at Entertainment City Project.

03 July 2016
By Czeriza Valencia