LOCAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

LOCAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS In theory, any LGU can enter into any joint venture project with any company, as long as the agreement does not violate any national law, and as long as the city, municipal and provincial councils officially approve the project with an official resolution. If and when appropriate or required, the approvals should be backed up with citizen surveys or public referendums or both. I am mentioning this subject in relation to the fact that Public and Private Partnership (PPP) projects are already prevalent in the national level. Since this subject matter is very new to me, I could not be very sure yet about what are allowed and what are not. And I will not even try to make an impression that I am an expert in this subject matter, because I am not. As a matter of fact, I am hoping that there could be experts about PPP and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects out there who will contact me and teach me what to do. I have decided to explore the PPP and BOT options for LGUs, because I know for a fact that many LGUs are not earning enough from their own revenues, and they could hardly afford to undertake big ticket projects, even if their budgets are supplemented by their shares of the Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs). As a matter of fact, the budgets could still be lacking even if some sympathetic congressmen will share their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAFs). At the national level, we are fortunate that there are some major conglomerates led by Ramon S. Ang (RSA) and Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) who have the resources needed to build big ticket projects using the PPP and BOT approaches. It could be a long shot, but what if some local businesses would be equally motivated to go into similar projects in partnership with LGUs? To build infrastructure like farm-to-market roads and power generation plants for example? It appears that some provincial governments have already coordinated with the Public-Private Partnership Center (visit https://ppp.gov.ph/) in order to conduct their own projects. I would therefore encourage all the other LGUs to do the same. And if they need to consult with other government agencies or private sector experts, I would be willing to help them. IKE SENERES/08-22-24