International PPP Briefs Editor Steve Rooney interviewed PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao on the current state of the ‪#‎PhPPPprogram‬ and the government’s present plans and goals.

P3 Briefs
You have been operating for about 5 years and have a current pipeline of about 60 projects. What things/lessons did PPPC have to learn to get to this level of success that might be instructive to others who are trying to approximate your remarkable successes?

PPP Center of Philippines
We are happy to share that the Philippine PPP program has matured into one of the stronger and more sustainable PPP programs in the world. There has been a huge interest in the Philippine PPP experience, particularly from countries that are still in the middle of developing their own PPP program. Bhutan, Tonga and other foreign governments visited the PPP Center to learn about the country’s PPP program.
And in the course of these sharing and learning sessions that we conduct for them, we share our best practices that have helped us jumpstart our own PPP program.

First lesson is on building a responsive regulatory framework. While the Philippines has a long history of developing PPPs or BOTs (Build –Operate-Transfer) as it was known back then in the 1990s, much has already changed. The BOT Law has undergone several incarnations, specifically in its Implementing Rules and Regulations. Significant changes include Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism for PPPs, the issuance of Joint Venture Guidelines and the passage of local PPP codes for Local Government Units.

The second lesson is on establishing a more responsive and conducive environment for doing PPPs in the Philippines. The Aquino Administration’s thrust on transparency, accountability and good governance has made a remarkable and positive impression on our partners and stakeholders. The trust level of the global market has been translated into a series of credit rating upgrades for the Philippines, bringing the country to investment grade status. This is a resounding stamp of approval from our peers in the international market. The Philippines continues to maintain that upward trajectory and is currently one of the more viable destinations for investments.

Third, we improved our internal processes and beefed up our human capital by undertaking extensive capacity building measures to further improve our skills. In the course of rolling out projects, we integrated new concepts and best practices that made the entire process of developing PPP projects more responsive and innovative.

Some of the examples of improvements in our process include the use of a project development and monitoring facility that provides our Implementing Agencies access to renowned consulting firms to help them in project development such as feasibility studies and guide them through the process of tendering their projects.

We conduct market sounding exercises to, shall we say, take the pulse of our investors and check their appetite on the projects being rolled out. From this, we are able to develop proposals that balance both the interest of our investors and that of the public.

We are now in the process of building a Knowledge Management Portal that will act as the central repository of all information related to all PPP projects in the Philippines. This portal is composed of nine (9) IT systems on project development, monitoring, consultancy management, and an e-library, among others. The APEC is actually looking at our KM model and there is a move to go the same route for all APEC economies in the region.

Lastly, consistent with its mandate to provide the public with updated and relevant information regarding the Philippine Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program, the PPP Center launches its new and improved website (www.ppp.gov.ph) envisioned to be the primary source of reliable PPP information in the country. The new website is part of PPP Center’s Knowledge Management (KM) Portal initiative to further improve information exchange between the government, private sector and the general public.

P3 Briefs
Why should funding institutions consider investing in Philippine PPP projects?

PPP Center of Philippines
For the past five years, the Philippine PPP program has built and maintained a robust pipeline of PPP projects that are well- structured and are consistently on the radar of both local and foreign investors. We have already awarded nine (9) projects to our private partners worth USD 3.03 Billion.

We have 14 projects now being tendered, the biggest of which is the Laguna Lake Expressway Dike worth USD 2.72889 Billion. While our local investors have retained a very strong interest in our PPP program, it is imperative that we tap other funding institutions to sustain the accelerated momentum of the program.

We have actually conducted several roadshows in the US, Canada, Europe, Singapore and others last year to further drum up investor interest particularly with the country’s trading partners.
These efforts culminated in the PPP Forum that we recently conducted together with our partners from the private sector who were our co – sponsors.

The forum specifically tackled the issue of finding the right financing options for PPPs in the Philippines. The forum was entitled PPPs @ PH: Bridging the Financial Gap, Exploring Partnerships. It was held on April 24 at The Peninsula Manila. You can visit our website, www.ppp.gov.ph for the latest information on our PPP projects as well as the details of the PPP Forum.
We are enjoining all interested investors to take a look at what the Philippines has to offer and participate in the booming market of PPPs in the Philippines. This is the best time to invest and be part of our PPP program.

PPP Briefs
What is coming up and can we expect to see many more projects under analysis, or are you going to slow down on new projects in order to focus on getting what is already on your plate done?

PPP Center of Philippines
At this point, our goal is to continue working at the same accelerated phase where we are now. The plan is 5 projects completed and 15 PPP contracts signed by the end of the Aquino Administration and get most of the projects in the pipeline rolled out.
This is not to say that we will not focus our efforts in ensuring that the contracts that we’ve awarded are completed. We shall be actively working with all stakeholders involved and see through the implementation of these PPP projects.

Source: PPP Briefs