THE AQUINO administration may be excused for the slow start this year of its flagship infrastructure program as it lays the groundwork for a smooth roll-out, but its second year in office will be crucial to addressing concerns raised by the private sector and economists regarding this key initiative, a think tank said in a report released on Tuesday.
The public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure development program will be particularly critical to the current administration’s goal of revving up the economy to a higher growth path of 7%-8% until the end of its term in 2016, GlobalSource Partners said in its report for July, entitled “A bet on PPP.”
The government has said it will take such sustained faster growth to enable economic expansion to benefit more of the country’s poor.
“Introduced as the administration’s flagship infrastructure initiative, the PPP scheme is off to a rocky start, with most projects slated to begin this year facing delays,” GlobalSource said.
“Looking only at this year, the goals for the PPP are unlikely to be met.”
GlobalSource noted that the roll-out of PPP projects entrusted to the Department of Public Works and Highways was moved to this quarter from the original schedule in the second quarter. These were the Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway link (P1.6 billion), the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) expressway (P10.59 billion) and the North Luzon-South Luzon expressway link (P21 billion). The fourth project, the Cavite-Laguna expressway extension (P10.5 billion), scheduled for December, was moved to 2012.
In the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), the recent change in leadership has stalled the roll-out of PPP projects under its oversight as newly appointed Secretary Manuel “Mar” A. Roxas II asked for time to review them.
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