The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the revised rules of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law would lure more public-private partnership (PPP) projects under the Marcos administration.
In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the revised 2022 implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the BOT law would deliver more financially viable and well-structured PPP projects.
Balisacan, who chairs the BOT IRR Cabinet-level Committee, said the new IRR will further aid the government in fostering development across the country’s critical sectors amid global headwinds and fiscal constraints.
He added that the new IRR published last Sept. 27 also balanced balance private and public interests toward meeting the country’s development goals.
“Through the new IRR, the government will utilize PPP projects to address the binding constraints to growth and job creation in sectors such as manufacturing, tourism, IT-BPOs, and the creative industry,” Balisacan said.
“Considering our current fiscal position, private sector resources and technical expertise will be harnessed to introduce innovations and upgrade the country’s vital infrastructure such as logistics, transportation, telecommunications, and water,” he added.
PPP will enable investment in projects connecting leading and lagging regions, which will improve the competitiveness of domestic industries and reinforce the virtuous cycle of attracting even more investments in various sectors, Balisacan said.
“Harnessing private resources will also allow the public sector to allocate more public resources for social protection measures that will bolster the purchasing power of Filipino families,” the official said.
Led by NEDA and the Department of Finance, the BOT IRR Committee spearheaded stakeholder consultations and deliberations to fine-tune the proposed amendments.
Other Committee members include the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, Information and Communications Technology, as well as the Interior and Local Government.
Also included were the Departments of Public Works and Highways, Trade and Industry, and Transportation, as well as the Public-Private Partnership Center (PPPC) which serves as a member of and secretariat to the Committee.