Government not abandoning PPP scheme, says DOF

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration remains open to partnerships with the private sector for the implementation of its infrastructure projects, according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

During a recent dialogue with representatives of top corporations, Dominguez said the government is not abandoning the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme in rolling out its infrastructure program.

“People have been questioning us why we are ‘abandoning PPP.’  We are not abandoning PPP. For us it is just another way of financing projects,” Dominguez said.

He said the government is “merely exploring ways on how PPP can be most advantageous not only to the government in terms of cost, but also to the people in terms of how soon they can get to benefit from the fastest roll-out of major projects.”

“The previous administration relied on (the traditional PPP) exclusively to finance the projects. The situation has changed a bit because our President is beginning to tap a lot of financial commitments, and thanks to the last administration, we have a big headroom for debt and they left us quite a bit of money. It’s incumbent upon us to use that, use those to push the projects ahead,” Dominguez said.

According to the finance chief, the administration is still open to unsolicited proposals from the private sector “for as long as these do not entail government subsidies or guarantees.”

He said the government is also open to PPP arrangements as long as they are consistent with legal conditions, such as the 50-percent limit of government undertakings on the total project cost.

Dominguez clarified the private sector would still be allowed to participate in large-scale infrastructure projects as the government would still need private contractors to operate and maintain the projects.

Meanwhile, Finance Undersecretary Karen Singson, who heads the DOF’s Privatization Group, said the government has various approaches in which the private sector can take part in the government’s infrastructure program, including solicited PPPs, unsolicited proposals and negotiated joint ventures.

Singson said unsolicited proposals should involve new concepts or technologies not part of the government’s priority projects.

“(Unsolicited proposals) allow the government to take advantage of the efficiency and technological innovations while freeing the government from providing subsidies or guarantees to infrastructure projects,” Singson said.