PRESIDENT Aquino will showcase the country’s key infrastructure thrust during his four-nation tour in Europe this week, a move seen to expand the country’s trade ties and further secure investment deals.
Mr. Aquino will present the Philippines’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program to the delegates of an infrastructure conference in Belgium.
Among the big-ticket key projects to be featured in the Brussels PPP Infrastructure Projects Conference are the $2.73-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways; and the $542.22-million Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.
The conference will also feature transportation projects, including airports, massive
transport terminals and rail lines.
PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao is also set to present to European investors a pipeline of over 50 cornerstone infrastructure deals estimated at $20 billion.
“This is a huge opportunity for the Philippines to pitch our PPP infrastructure projects and let European investors know that we have built up a major deal flow in which they can participate in.
Our investment climate is ripe for investors to bring their business to the Philippines,” she pointed out.
She added: “Our credit ratings are at an all-time high as evidenced by major international rating agencies’ successive upgrades. We made significant strides in the world competitive index. Clearly, now is the best time to invest in the Philippines.”
The PPP program is a flagship program of the Aquino administration. Recently, a leading provider of credit ratings, research and risk analysis cited the accelerating PPP infrastructure projects of the present administration. Moody’s Investors Service stressed that this is despite the constraints on regulatory framework in the country.
Aside from the P65-billion Cavite Extension deal, the MPIC-Ayala tandem also won the P1.72-billion Automated Fare Collection System Project, which will effectively integrate the ticketing systems in all three light-rail systems in the Philippines.
The government has awarded eight public-private partnership contracts since the flagship infrastructure program was launched in late-2010, involving:
π P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway project bagged by Ayala Corp.
in 2011;
π P16.42-billion first phase of the PPP School Infrastructure Program (PSIP), which went in 2012 to the consortium formed by Megawide Construction Corp. and Citicore Holdings Investment Inc., as well as the BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development
Corp. Consortium;
π P15.68-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway, given to San Miguel Corp. unit Vertex Tollways Development Inc. in 2013;
π P3.86-billion PSIP Phase II contract, partially awarded last year to Megawide and the BSP & Co. Inc.-Vicente T. Lao Construction consortium;
π P5.69-billion Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center project that went to the Megawide-World Citi Inc. consortium also last year;
π P1.72-billion Automated Fare Collection System Project awarded this January to AF Consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Ayala;
π P17.5-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport New Passenger Terminal project bagged in April by Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructures Ltd.; and
π P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension Project awarded to Light Rail Manila Consortium of Ayala and MPIC.
The government aims to sign at least 15 contracts by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.
The President is leading a four-nation official tour of Europe that will cover Spain, Belgium, France and Germany. The PPP pipeline will be presented at the PPP Infrastructure Conference in Brussels, Belgium, on September 16.
The list of projects to be presented includes the seven projects that have been awarded thus far; two projects that will be awarded; and four projects that are undergoing procurement as well as those that are for rollout.
The PPP Center said the list also includes six projects that are undergoing the approval and evaluation of national agencies; the 10 projects that are undergoing studies; eight projects that are undergoing pre-investment studies; and two projects that are undergoing development.
The conference will also feature transportation projects, including airports, massive transport terminals and rail lines. With Cai U. Ordinario