House Speaker Martin Romualdez backed on Monday, Aug. 8 the call of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. for local government units (LGUs) to enter into more public-private-partnerships (PPP) for infrastructure and service development projects.
“I support the appeal of President Bongbong Marcos for LGUs to get into more PPPs to speed up growth in the regions, which in turn will generate employment and livelihood opportunities for our people,” Romualdez said in a statement.
Last week, President Marcos encouraged mayors to go into more PPPs during a meeting with officers of the League of Cities of the Philippines in Malacañang.
“There are plenty of openty of opportunities, especially in infrastructure...Local government generally cannot do it by itself. We have to find partners, we have to find local partners, we have to find investors. You’re used to that,” he told the local chief executives.
Romualdez, Leyte's 1st district congressman, said engaging in PPPs would free up funds that LGUs could use for other vital public services.
It would also discharge LGUs from the responsibility of running infrastructure projects that, based on the experience of government, are better managed by the private sector, the House leader said.
Recently, the Iloilo City government signed a 25-year lease agreement with SM Prime Holdings, Inc. for the redevelopment of the Central Market and Iloilo Terminal Market. The SM made a commitment to allocate about P3 billion to fund the redevelopment.
Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) Romualdez hailed Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, a former congressman, for this move.
According to the agreement, the partnership will be at no cost to the city and is expected to benefit about 2,800 market vendors.
The speaker pointed out that aside from public markets, there are a number of projects LGUs could offer to private investors for funding and development arrangement, such as toll roads, hospitals, irrigation systems, and housing areas.
These could easily attract private funders because such projects would not run out of customers and users, he added.
Romualdez noted that people in many highly-urbanized and populous areas in the regions are experiencing Metro Manila-type traffic congestion due to lack of roads and development has been focused in the town centers.
LGUs could go into PPPs for diversion roads that would decongest these areas and promote faster travel, he said.