PPP PROJECTS. The National Economic and Development Authority regional office in Palo, Leyte. The office is preparing a list of potential Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Eastern Visayas to be presented soon to the country's major investors. (PNA file photo)
TACLOBAN CITY -- The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is preparing a list of potential Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Eastern Visayas to be presented soon to the country's big investors.
The list of proposed projects will be presented to key investors within the year in an upcoming investment forum to be organized by the NEDA Board Regional Development Committee (RDCOM) composed of the chairpersons, co-chairpersons, and vice-chairpersons of the Regional Development Councils (RDC) in the three Visayas regions.
NEDA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Meylene Rosales said the forum will open windows of opportunities for the poverty-stricken by poverty region.
Key officials have not yet decided on the specific date since two regions in the Visayas -- Regions 7 Central Visayas) and 8 (Eastern Visayas) have no appointed RDC chairpersons for the terms 2019 to 2022.
“We are lagging behind among three Visayas regions. The development in Western Visayas and Central Visayas is robust with the presence of giant developers. I expect that Region 8 will stand to benefit whatever collaboration of key officials in the Visayas region,” Rosales told the Philippine News Agency on Monday.
Among the three regions, Eastern Visayas posted the slowest economic growth in 2018 at 5.9 percent, lower than 7.6 percent in Central Visayas, and 6.1 percent in Western Visayas.
The NEDA regional office here is eyeing PPP ventures in agriculture and fisheries, manufacturing, and tourism, the three priority areas under the 2017-2022 Regional Development Plan.
In 2018, NEDA opened its PPP Knowledge Center in Eastern Visayas in a bid to promote the PPP program in the region.
The information hub, housed at the NEDA regional office here, answers all PPP-related questions from local government units, state universities and colleges, government-owned and controlled corporations, and private investors.
The growing interest of Manila-based and international companies to invest outside Metro Manila prompted NEDA to set up the knowledge center in the regions.
Rosales said not all PPP ventures are hard infrastructure projects. Some existing PPPs include the construction and operation of public markets, terminals, slaughterhouses, and information technology systems.
The facility does not only answer queries of government agencies and local government units, but private investors as well.
There are also available templates for local government units to come up with PPP Code, feasibility studies, contracts, and other documentary requirements for PPP projects.
Currently, the existing PPP projects in the region are the joint ventures of Prime Water Infrastructure Corp., a unit of the Villar Group with some local government units in running local water districts. (PNA)
