The government launched the newly established Philippine Infrastructure Transparency Portal: http://www.build.gov.ph/, on April 18 highlighting several Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects that are already on different stages of the current PPP pipeline. The Build Build Build Portal presented high impact projects that are seen “to increase the productive capacity of the economy, increase incomes, and create a robust investment climate that will pave the way for more jobs”.
On the portal’s list are the awarded PPP projects of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) namely South and Southwest Transport System Terminals. The south terminal is under preconstruction activities while the southwest terminal’s construction is now ongoing. Two projects in the list are the two road projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) namely North Luzon Expressway – South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) Connector Road which is now undergoing pre-construction activity and the fully operational NAIA Expressway Phase II Project.
The five regional airport PPP projects are also included in the portal’s set of projects. These are the Development, Operations and Maintenance of Davao, Laguindingan, New Bohol, Iloilo and Bacolod-Silay Airports. These PPP projects are currently in the bidding stage. On January 24 this year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) published an invitation to pre-qualify and bid (ITPQB) to invite new prospective bidders for the unbundled airport projects. The agency also conducted a pre-qualification conference last March 13 where several foreign and local investors attended.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project which was recently approved by the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) Committee for PDMF fund support to conduct its feasibility study (FS) and for transaction advisory services is also included in the high impact projects’ list. The DOTr tapped the PDMF, a revolving fund available to government agencies for pre-investment activities of PPP projects and managed by the PPP Center.
The Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Commuter is also part of the portal. As approved by the Investment Coordination Committee last March 21, 2017, the DOTr will seek Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the construction of the railway and pursue a PPP arrangement for its Operations and Maintenance (O&M).
The infra transparency portal was launched during “The Dutertenomics Forum” which was led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and the rest of the government’s economic managers.
