$12-million grant OK'd for PPP project development

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s efforts to get the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program off the ground got a boost as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other multilateral agencies approved a $12-million grant for the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF).

The PDMF is a revolving pool of funds from the Philippine and Australian governments under a capacity-building technical assistance project from the ADB and the Canadian government to enhance the investment environment for PPP, and to develop a robust pipeline of viable and well-prepared PPP infrastructure projects.

It will fund pre-investment activities, including preparation of project pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies and financial models, development of PPP options, project structuring, providing transaction advisory services during the bidding process and preparation of contract documents.

ADB country director for the Philippines Neeraj Jain said the PDMF will also receive another $3 million from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

 “We are expecting to get another $3 million for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which we will also release to the PDMF, thus bring its total assistance to $18.5 million,” Jain said.

 “The PDMF will help the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center and the national government to move forward more focused.”

The PDMF was initially funded with P550 million from the Philippine government. It then received a $7-million grant from the AusAID, $1.2 million from the CIDA and $1.5 million from ADB. That would amount to a total of $9.7 million grants, which would be administered by the ADB.

Thus the total amount of grants extended for the country’s PPP program would reach $28.2 million, of which $21 million would go to the PDMF.

In fact, 13 new projects are awaiting funds from the PPP Center to help finance their pre-investment studies.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier approved the following: the LRT Line 1 South Extension; the Agus VI Hydroelectric Power Plant Uprating project of the National Power Corp.; the Land Transportation Office Infrastructure and Information System (LTO-IIS) Project of the Department of Transportation and Communications; and the Jalaur River Multipurpose Irrigation Project Phase II, Umayam River Irrigation Project (URIP) and Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP)-Irrigation Component Phase II of National Irrigation Administration; and the E-Trike projects of the Department of Energy; the Bridge Construction Project for Expanded Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC) Development—Umiray Bridge of the Department of Agrarian Reform; Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management Program (INREMP) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; the Baler-Casiguran Road Improvement Project and Samar Pacific Coastal Road Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways; and Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Measures in Low-Lying Areas of Pampanga Bay Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Education.