By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter
THE Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines (PPP Center) is projecting a healthy flow of unsolicited proposals this year, reflecting sustained interest from private investors, who may have been spurred to play a bigger role in infrastructure after last year’s massive corruption scandal.
PPP Center Executive Director Rizza Blanco-Latorre said the growing number of unsolicited proposals submitted to the PPP Center also reflects a desire to sidestep delays inherent in solicited proposals.
“What happens (with solicited projects) is that the government develops the project. Maghihintay ’yung private sector kailan ipapabid (This will force investors to wait until projects are bid out). There are a lot of private investors (who) cannot wait for the government,” she told BusinessWorld.
“Since they have the resources and technical expertise, they develop the project and then submit it to the government to evaluate,” she added.
She is expecting more unsolicited proposals to be submitted in the remaining months of the year.
Ms. Blanco-Latorre said prospective investors have not been deterred by the infrastructure corruption scandal, judging by the volume of proposals filed in the last six months.
“I believe that the private sector has so much faith and trust in the PPP framework here in the Philippines, especially that we now have the new PPP code and its implementing rules and regulations,” she added.
She said the corruption issues surrounding last year’s flood control projects have actually increased private sector interest in major government projects.
“Because (of the corruption concerns), the private sector now wants to be part of infrastructure projects,” she added.
As of April 8, the PPP Center said there were 251 projects in the pipeline valued at P3.3 trillion.
Of the total, 195 or 78.3% are solicited projects worth P1.96 trillion, while the remaining 54 projects are unsolicited projects worth P1.34 trillion.
Most of the projects are in property development (46 projects), maritime (45 projects), and information and communications technology (23 projects).
By value, the top categories are railways (P1.97 trillion), property development (P361.89 billion), and land transport (P274.06 billion).
Of the pending projects 223 are under development, and 18 have reached the approval stage.
Meanwhile, the remaining 10 projects are advancing through bidding or comparative challenge processes, depending on whether they are solicited or unsolicited.
The PPP Center said 167 projects worth P3.16 trillion will be implemented by the National Government, while 84 projects worth P136 billion will be overseen by local government units.
