The Public-Private Partnership Center (PPPC) is looking to bundle water-supply projects from different provincial areas and broaden their scope in an effort to attract more investors.

At a briefing in Quezon City, PPPC Executive Director Ferdinand Pecson listed a number of PPP projects in the pipeline, and said water is the biggest sector.

“We are looking at how we can bundle several provinces to make the project bigger in scope and more interesting for investors,” he added.

The PPPC has been tapping local government units to make use of PPP for establishing projects within their areas.

Earlier, the Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Pampanga provincial government to construct the Pampanga Bulk Water Supply facility through subsidiary MetroPac Water (MPW) Investments Corp.

Pampnga Gov. Lilia Pineda accepted it and bestowed original proponent status on the company on August 31.
“We are helping Pampanga in evaluating that unsolicited proposal,” PPPC Project Development Service Director Lawrence Velasco said.

For his part, PPPC Policy Formulation, Project Evaluation and Monitoring Service Director Jeffrey Manalo said the East-West Rail Project and the New Manila International Airport are the “more active ones” among the private sector-proposed projects.

The consortium of East-West Rail Transit Corp. and AlloyMTD Philippines Inc. proposed the rail project, while San Miguel Corp. received original proponent status for the international airport after proposing to build a P700-billion airport in Bulacan province.

Considered one of the projects that would help decongest Metro Manila, the rail project is still under evaluation and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is yet to approve it. As for the new MIA, it is seen as as an alternative to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and is also being evaluated by NEDA.

BY REICELENE JOY IGNACIO