PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. urged local government units to be open to public-private partnerships (PPP) as a mode of financing for their projects.
“I think this is the way forward, and I encourage all our local government units to be open to the possibilities of PPPs; to have PPPs, especially in your areas,” the president said during a meeting with members of the League of Cities of the Philippines.
Digitalization would also play a big part in PPP, Marcos said, especially in pushing for the country’s economic recovery and digital transformation.
“Digitalization is going to be a very natural fit for something like PPPs,” the president added.
In the same event, Marcos said he had received offers to fund big-ticket projects as he encouraged local chief executives to be the “driving force” behind the country’s economic transformation. There’s Official Development Assistance, private sector and joint venture, the president said.
“You’re local government, you know that already. Local government generally cannot do it by itself. We have to find partners, we have to find local partners. We have to find investors.,” he told local executives. “Sanay na kayo diyan.” [You know that well.]
In a bid to widen its fiscal space without sacrificing infrastructrue goals, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno earlier said the government is eyeing to open around 90 government infrastructure projects to PPP.
In his first State of the Nation Address, Marcos said PPPs will also be tapped for energy projects, specifically for small-scale nuclear projects apart from the usual infrastructure projects to help the country attain energy security.
The Marcos administration vowed to sustain infrastructure spending at 5 percent to 6 percent of gross domestic product as it expressed commitment to expand the previous government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.