PPP – Page 5 – Maniolas

Aquino OKs 6 PPP projects worth P76.5 B

Economy

Jun 272013

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino approved on Wednesday six public-private partnership projects with a combined total of P76.5 billion among five government agencies, but two of the National Economic Development Authority-approved projects carried “conditions.” The P27.5-billion proposed Philippine Rural Development Program of the Agriculture department under Secretary Proceso Alcala was put on hold, and so was the P5.9-billion Philippine Ports and Coast Guard Capability Development project of the DOTC. The project from the office of Transportation Secretary Emilio Joseph Abaya was for the procurement of four brand new 24-meter patrol boats and one 82-meter patrol boat that would be used by the Philippine Coast Guard, an agency under the DOTC. The rural development project under the Department of Agriculture was for increasing “farm and fishery productivity in 16 targeted regions and 80 provinces all over the country, thru “adoption and integration of climate-smart agricultural support.” Among the four approved NEDA projects that the government’s Investment Coordination Committee endorsed were from the Departments of Energy (DOE), Education (DepEd) and Public Works and Highways (DPWH). There were two DPWH projects – the P6.7-billion post-Ondoy and Pepeng short-term infrastructure rehabilitation project and P5.5-billion Phase II of the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement project. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The two others were from DOE’s P21.6-billion market transformation thru energy-efficient e-vehicles and DepEd’s P9.4-billion Basic Education Sector Transformation, giving focus on “improving teaching and learning” and “strengthening systems.” All in all, the six projects have a combined value of P76.5 billion. Read More …

P-Noy renames BOT Center to PPP Center

Economy

Jun 052013

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has signed an executive order that reorganized and renamed the build-operate-transfer center to the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines under the National Economic Development Authority. EO 136 states that that there is a “need to amend certain sections” in EO 8 series of 2010, removing from the Department of Trade and Industry the previous jurisdiction of handling the implementation of government-backed projects. This is for “budgetary purposes and administrative supervision.” Under Section 2, the PPP Center will also “manage and administer the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF), formerly known as the Project Development Facility (PDF) established as a revolving fund under EO 44 series of 2002.” The PPP Center shall act as the secretariat of the PPP Governing Board – the overall policy-making body for all PPP-related matters, including the PDMF. “It shall be responsible for setting the strategic direction of the PPP Program and creating an enabling policy and institutional environment for PPP,” a portion of the EO read. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The PPP Board is headed by a chairman (Neda chief), a vice chairman (secretary of finance), with the secretaries of DBM, DOJ, DTI, executive secretary and private sector co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council as members. The PPP Center will be headed by an executive director, whose rank will be equivalent to that of an undersecretary, who will be appointed by Aquino upon the recommendation of the NEDA director-general.

Phl jumps 5 places in competitiveness

Economy

May 302013

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines saw its competitiveness ranking move up by five places to reach the 38th spot in this year’s IMD (International Institute for Management Development) World Competitiveness Report from the 43rd place last year due to improvements in terms of its economic performance, government efficiency and business efficiency. Citing the IMD World Competitiveness Report which covered 60 countries, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said the Philippines’ improved ranking was due to gains seen in three out of four major factors being monitored by the report. In particular, the Philippines made improvements in terms of economic performance (from 42nd to 31st), government efficiency (from 32nd to 31st), and business efficiency (from 26th to 19th). The report noted that the improvement in economic performance could be attributed to big gains in real Gross Domestic Product growth, expansion in export of goods and international trade. In terms of government efficiency, gains in fiscal policy and institutional framework were noted. While the Philippines showed progress in its rankings in three factors, its place in the infrastructure factor dropped to the 57th spot this year from last year’s 55th spot. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Despite the drop in the ranking for the infrastructure sector, the NCC said the government’s move to implement infrastructure projects is expected to result in an improvement in the ranking moving forward. “Increased infrastructure rollouts and improved efficiency in the PPP (public private partnership) rollouts are expected to improve performance in infrastructure,” it Read More …

PH Hemodialysis Center Recognized among World’s Best PPP Projects

Entertainment

Apr 232013

WASHINGTON, D.C.—An initiative of the National Kidney and Transplant Center (NKTI) that made renal care accessible and affordable to ordinary Filipinos has been recognized as one of the best public-private partnerships (PPP) not only in Asia but also in the rest of the world, the Philippine Embassy announced today. In a statement, the Embassy congratulated […]

A nation’s ‘absorptive capacity’ and its current relevance

Economy

Feb 262013

A nation’s ‘absorptive capacity’ and its current relevance

Is the nation’s “absorptive capacity” enabling the country to achieve its full potential for growth? Are investment decisions making the economy more efficient? These two questions have an identical answer: No. There is a great deal of room for improvement. At a time when economic gains are rising to optimistic levels, there should be less excuse for discussing those problems that slow down the achievement of growth objectives. The question of absorptive capacity stares us in the face. The delays in decisions concerning investment projects in the public sector reduce absorptive capacity. Indecision might be attributable to lack of courage on the part of the principals of government agencies to take responsibility for their actions. We should focus on this problem. “Absorptive capacity in the public and private sectors.” Absorptive capacity is the ability to implement projects and investments so that they achieve their intended objectives. If issues arise at any stage in the process, having absorptive capacity implies finding the appropriate ways or adjustments to solve or wiggle out of the problems. Taken in its wider meaning – absorptive capacity – is possessing the appropriate technical and managerial skills to oversee the completion of economic decisions toward satisfactory results . (There are many economic jargons of greater precision to explain this, but I will avoid that route.) In this country and in relative terms, the problem of inadequate or low absorptive capacity resides more in the public, than in the private, sphere. The former is much more inflexible when Read More …

Goldman Sachs: Phl needs to move up value added chain to hit growth targets

Economy

Jan 312013

Goldman Sachs: Phl needs to move up value added chain to hit growth targets

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines needs to “move up the value added chain” if it is to reach its target of 8.5 percent growth by 2016, an investment bank said on Thursday. “The trend growth for the last 10 years was around five percent. To increase that to eight percent, that would entail a couple of things,” said Mark Tan, executive director for Global Economics, Commodities and Strategy Research of Goldman Sachs. The bank forecast stable economic growth for the country at the range of 5 to 6 percent fromn 2013 to 2016. The country, which expanded by beyond-target 6.6 percent last year, is forecast to slow down to 5.5 percent this year and the next before picking up again to 5.6 percent and 5.8 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The outlooks fall well-below government’s medium term targets: 6 to 7 percent this year, 6.5 to 7.5 percent in 2014, 7 to 8 percent in 2015 and 7.5 to 8.5 percent in 2016. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Consumption has held up but more work needs to be done in infrastructure development, labor productivity and the relation between the two to maximize the country’s growth potentials, Tan told reporters. In particular, “better labor skills” coupled with continued accumulation of capital will be a good combination toward achieving the Aquino administration’s targets. The public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, despite some delays, will also be worth pursuing. “It also needs to do more focus on labor productivity, upgrading Read More …

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