NEDA future-proofing PPP

The timeline to the operation and maintenance of the Bohol Panglao International Airport is an example, the pursuit of which took almost a year to be approved.

The government is future-proofing its infrastructure projects implemented under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and has barred the judiciary and local governments from interfering in disputes involving private sector proponents.

This was learned from Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia who said it is important for everyone to know that projects pursued under the PPP benefit the Filipino.

This developed in the wake of the release of a new set of projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CabCom) on Wednesday that has particular focus on transport and mobility projects.

“For PPP (projects), we want to make sure that (these) are going to benefit the people. That is why we don’t want government guarantees, subsidies…like anything (that has to do with) MAGA (material adverse government action),” Pernia told reporters on the sidelines of the announcement of the third quarter Philippine economic performance on Thursday.

The MAGA is a concept designed to assure private sector proponents of the government’s commitment to shield PPP proponents from changes in government policy or regulation down the line, in effect future-proofing the private sector against changes that typically harms their financial standing.

“We’ll restrict it to the executive branch only. Judiciary and local governments are not covered by MAGA, so you can see that we’re very restrictive,” Pernia added.

According to him, the timeline to the operation and maintenance of the Bohol Panglao International Airport is an example, the pursuit of which took almost a year to be approved.

“And that’s because (the project went throught) to so many iterations,” he said.

“We want to make sure of course also that we won’t get sued out of all these already. There’s always a danger when we’re not so careful about dealing with projects,” he quickly added.

Earlier, the ICC-CabCom approved four infrastructure projects, namely the Samal Island-Davao City Connector and the Camarines Sur High-Speed Highway Projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways; the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project and the Unsolicited Proposal for the New Bohol International Airport of the Department of Transportation.