The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Philippines and the Singapore-based Infrastructure Asia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on September 9, 2019, to assist local implementing agencies (LIAs) in the Philippines to develop and implement their PPP projects.

In a ceremony held at Malacañan Palace that coincided with the state visit of Singaporean President Halimah Yacob to the Philippines on, PPP Center represented by Undersecretary and Executive Director Ferdinand A. Pecson and Infrastructure Asia led by Executive Director Tan Keng Hwee Seth signed the MOU in the presence of officials and delegates from the Philippines and Singapore.

Through the MOU, Infrastructure Asia will collaborate with the PPP Center to help facilitate the implementation of the latter’s Local PPP Strategy by sharing knowledge and international best practices on capacity building and policy formulation, including the development of PPP guidelines on focus areas such as healthcare, water supply, and waste management. Infrastructure Asia will tap key Singapore-based infrastructure players to support these initiatives.

The PPP Center, on the other hand, will collaborate with Infrastructure Asia to support them and its partners in their work arising from this MOU, as well as to support and facilitate coordination between Infrastructure Asia and LIAs.

The Center’s Local PPP Strategy aims to tap private sector financing, expertise, and efficiencies into local and regional development and service delivery. This partnership is expected to encourage more LIAs to engage in infrastructure development and look at PPP as one of their infrastructure delivery strategies.

The PPP Center is the Philippines’ central coordinating and monitoring government agency for all PPP projects. The agency also provides, among its other functions, project advisory and facilitation services to both national and local implementing agencies to help them develop and implement critical infrastructure and other development projects. On the other hand, Infrastructure Asia was established by Enterprise Singapore and Monetary Authority of Singapore to support infrastructure financing and development in the region.