New medium-term plan ready by February

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines  – A new Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) is expected to be submitted by NEDA to President Aquino this February, amid projections that despite natural calamities affecting economies worldwide, Philippine economy would grow by no less than eight percent during the Aquino administration.

This was revealed here last Thursday by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cayetano Paderanga who announced plans to establish Private-Public Partnership (PPP) units in various government agencies.

In an interview after his speech before members of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham), Paderanga said he did not expect the government’s economic projections to be significantly altered by the effects of natural calamities affecting foreign economies, including the United States.

“Our national development objective is to achieve inclusive growth to create employment opportunities and reduce poverty,” he said in his speech.

Paderanga said the MTPDP, which will be submitted to the President this February, was subjected to nationwide public consultations, as he stressed the importance of PPP in achieving government plans.

He cited a list of PPP projects being prepared by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) for “rollout” this year.

These include the LRT 2 east extension project, the privatization of LRT’s operations and maintenance, privatization of MRT 3’s operation operations and maintenance, and the LRT south extension project under the DPWH.

Projects under the DOTC are the Puerto Princesa Airport development, the new Legazpi-Daraga airport development, the privatization of the Lagundangan airport’s operations and maintenance, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s phase 2 expressway and the Cavite side of the CALA expressway.

“We are now finalizing an organizational structure for a PPP center,” he also said. The center would oversee PPP units to be organized in various government agencies to ease transactions between the government and the private sector in undertaking important public projects in the country.

Paderanga also cited “growth targets” for this year, as he cited projections that gross national product (GNP)’s estimated eight percent growth in 2010 would increase to nine to 10 percent this year, the gross domestic product (GDP)’s estimated six percent growth last year would rise to some seven to eight percent this year.

He identified “growth drivers for 2011” in both the supply and demand sides. The supply side included mining, construction, trade, private services and finance, while the demand side included private consumption, investments in the construction and agricultural industries, business processing outsourcing, electronics and semi-conductors firms, and tourism.

Pederanga noted that in Central Luzon where gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth was noted at only 1.4 percent in 2009, inflation rate improved from 3.9 percent in 2009 to 2.82 percent last year.

“Central Luzon recovered last year through agricultural, tourism-related and investments, especially in palay production. Tourism is growing due to the region’s proximity to Metro Manila and promotions,” he said.

Paderanga also cited significant entry of investments at Clark and Subic freeports. At Clark, the number of new investments in 2010 was four times the number in 2009, while in Subic, there was a 50 percent increase in investments, he added.