Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno
shared the government’s
commitment to productive
spending through investments in infrastructure
that will boost economic
growth during the Manila
Times Midyear Economic
Forum, entitled “The Financial Play After the Halftime Replay”, on June 27,
2023.
The event engaged government officials, economists, and
members of the business
community in discussions
on crucial economic matters to address obstacles
to growth and chart a comprehensive plan for the
second half of 2023.
“To ensure that
our growth outpaces our
debt, productive spending will be of paramount
importance. Hence, infrastructure spending must
be kept at 5 to 6 percent
of GDP annually or around
1.3 to 2.3 trillion pesos
each year until 2028,”
Secretary Diokno said
in his pre-recorded message.
The government
will bank on investments in
infrastructure to generate
revenues and employment
in the country.
Just last month,
the National Economic
and Development Authority (NEDA) released the
Public Investment Program (PIP) 2023 to 2028,
which contains 3,770 infrastructure priority programs and projects with
an indicative investment
requirement of PHP17.3
trillion as of March 20,
2023.
Target sectors
include transportation,
agriculture, energy, digital
connectivity, and water
infrastructure, among others.
According to
Secretary Diokno, designing a sound and effective
public-private partnership (PPP) framework
will be crucial in financing
big-ticket infrastructure
projects.
To this end, the
government has taken
the necessary steps to
improve the efficiency
and transparency of the
PPP mechanism through
reforms, including the revised implementing rules
and regulations (IRR) of
the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, the revised
Investment Coordination
Committee (ICC) Guidelines on PPP approvals,
and the revised NEDA
Joint Venture (JV) Guidelines.
The revised BOT
Law IRR determines the
true cost of infrastructure
or development projects
to the government, consumers, and taxpayers.
This ensures that the benefits and risks of PPP projects are shared equitably
among all parties while
protecting national interests.
Furthermore, new oversight mechanisms were
introduced to safeguard
compliance with PPP obligations by both implementing agencies and private sector applicants.
The revised
NEDA JV Guidelines were
Diokno . . .
aligned with the revised
BOT Law IRR and designed to enhance competition for projects under
JVs, as well as strengthen
checks and balances to
ensure the technical and
financial viability of government projects.
Meanwhile, the
revised ICC Guidelines on
PPP approvals significantly cut existing timelines for
the submission, evaluation, and approval of PPP
projects.
The government
is also pursuing the passage of the proposed PPP
Act or Senate Bill (SB) No.
2233, which is currently
pending second reading.
The bill was certified as
urgent by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on
May 31, 2023.
“We are optimistic that the bill will be approved by Congress within
the year,” Secretary Diokno said.
The bill provides
for a unified legal framework for all PPPs covering
all types of PPP arrangements at the national and
local levels, increases approval thresholds for national PPP projects, and
improves the framework
for unsolicited proposals,
among others. DOF.GOV
