By Leslie Venzon
MANILA, (PNA) — The government is pushing for policy enhancements in a bid to attract more investors to pour in their money into crucial infrastructure projects, particularly through the public-private partnership (PPP) program.
Dept. of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson said they are gearing up for measures to ensure a transparent bidding process and make the market more competitive.
“We’re in the process of revising the guidelines so that foreign contractors can start participating in infrastructure projects over P1 billion,” he said in an economic briefing.
As a result of such move, Singson noted that he observed heightened foreign interest in planned construction works from roads to flood management.
PPP Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said the administration has set up the Project Development and Monitoring Facility and the Strategic Support Fund to support implementing agencies in their PPP projects.
Canilao said it also established a contingent liability fund for PPP projects “which really signals to investors that we would like to address regulatory issues of these contracts that we are going to set-up.”
To ensure that infrastructure becomes a viable asset for investments for the private sector, she said they are making sure there is an available government counterpart financing for these projects.
“One of the challenges that we are facing now is actually making the contract not only commercial viable for the private sector but also bankable for the lenders,” Canilao said.
To address this problem, she said the government is engaging with the bidders and lenders to ensure that the contracts are acceptable to them.
For its part, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is focusing on making the Philippines a magnet for investment by maintaining sound macroeconomic fundamentals, improving its infrastructure and cutting red tape.
“The Philippine government has been investing substantially in infrastructure development to reduce the cost of doing business in this country. We are also prioritizing human capital investments,” Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.