LEGAZPI CITY—Albay has adopted a local version of the public-private partnership (PPP) code for the implementation of big infrastructure projects in the province designed to pursue unhampered economic growth, and become a development hub in Bicol and Southern Luzon.
Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda said the new “PPP code of Albay” could be regarded as a major breakthrough in local government administration that will pave the way for implementing monumental infrastructure projects for economic growth under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in a “climate of minimum government regulations.”
Salceda said Albay could probably be the first province to have drawn its own local PPP code as it stands in the threshold of becoming the development hub in Southern Luzon, particularly the Bicol region. BOT is regarded as the easier way to administer big government infrastructure development.
The Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan, headed by Vice Gov. Harold Ong Imperial, recently approved the local PPP code that provides “clear guidelines for PPPs by the province and its component local government units [LGUs].”
Salceda said the Local Government Code allows LGUs to enter “into joint ventures and such other cooperative engagements with non-governmental and people’s organizations to engage in the delivery of certain basic services…”
Among others, the Albay PPP Code aims to identify specific undertakings and potential support, financial or otherwise, that may be granted to the project proponents, as well as specific incentives as provided for under the Local Government Investment Code, the governor said.
As chairman of the Bicol Regional Development Council for nine years now, and the Luzon Area Development Council for three years, Salceda has sponsored and pushed for big infra projects, among them the Bicol International Airport (BIA) which is set to open in 2017, and the national government’s P171-billion South Rail Line of the North-South Railways system, now being rescheduled for bidding under the PPP scheme.
For a start, Salceda said there are at least two proposed projects lined up for PPP provincial engagements—the modern four-story Climate Change Academy building at the lot of the Albay Provincial Safety and Emergency Management Office, and the Albay Dialysis Center at the Josefina Belmonte Duran Hospital in Ligao City.
The academy, the first of its kind in Asia, is currently based at the Bicol University campus since its establishment four years ago. Founded by Salceda, its creation was hailed by climate- change advocates from all over the world, and had brought awards to Albay’s decisive campaign for climate-change adaptation.
The governor said the academy needs a bigger area and a building of its own to cater to the growing number of enrollees from different LGUs in the country and officials from other countries who want to learn more and train in climate- change adaptation and disaster-risk reduction.
Salceda said more and bigger infrastructure projects are seen to rise in Albay in the future, particularly after the BIA shall have opened, which will pave the way for more rapid economic growth.
He said the drawing of the Albay PPP code is anchored on the constitutional provision that “the local government, as a territorial and political subdivision enjoys local autonomy…and local governments have the power to create their own sources of revenue.”
The BOT law also states that concerned LGUs “may formulate additional guidelines/procedures not in conflict with the BOT law, its [implementing rules and regulations] and the Local Government Code and its corresponding IRR,” he explained.