The Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) plans to create its own Private-Public Partnership (PPP) Unit to complement with the PPP Center in the Central Office in Manila (Philippines).

Minda Chief of the Investment Promotion Division Ernie Tomas Jr. said that they are still in the designing stage of establishing such unit.

The Minda-PPP Unit is seen to fast-track priority and necessary PPP projects in the pipeline.

Some of the PPP projects in the island are the Davao Sasa Port Modernization Project, the regional airports bundled project, which includes the Davao International Airport Modernization Project; Laguindingan Airport Operations, Maintenance and Development Project, Surigao Airport and the General Santos International Airport.

National Economic Development Authority (Neda) director general, Ernesto Pernia, said that to achieve the objective, it will necessitate streamlined processes and procedures for PPP projects review and approval. He said that cutting red tape, from the start, was already one of the areas the next administration was determined to achieve.

For instance, incoming Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez cited average time frame for implementation of the 12 projects under PPP in the last six years take 29 months. Dominguez said that they could reduce the time frame to al least 18 to 20 months.

Incoming Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Arthur Tugade also said that they are gearing up for the creation of a strong monitoring team that will be tasked to ensure that the project’s timeline will be implemented on track under its project’s timeline.

The Duterte administration’s economic team also reported that the 80 percent of the total projects under PPP are in and around Metro Manila leaving the rural areas lagging behind in economic growth.

Dominguez stated that the infrastructure projects should be focused in rural and second-class municipalities. The main target with PPP for the next administration is to accelerate project implementation and identify outlying areas for inclusive growth.

It can also be recalled that President Duterte approved the continuation of the PPP Program provided that it will be implemented faster and effectively. A faster and more effective implementation of projects under the PPP scheme can be expected for the next six years under the President Rodrigo Duterte administration.

He also said that any program that would promote public welfare will be sustained.

Former President Benigno Aquino III initiated the PPP program “as a cornerstone strategy of the government to accelerate the country’s infrastructure development and sustained economic growth, recognizing the critical role of the private sector as the main engine for national development.”

The PPP Center was created through Executive Order 8 by Aquino in September 2010, renaming the Build-Operate-Transfer Center as the PPP Center and transferred it from being an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry to the Neda.

The PPP Center website bared that there are currently 12 awarded projects in the Philippine PPP pipeline with 11 other projects in different stages of procurement, two projects for Issuance of Notice of Award (NOA), one project for awarding, five projects for government approval, one project for evaluation and three projects with ongoing studies.