President Marcos has approved his administration’s infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs) costing P9 trillion, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced Thursday, March 9. The NEDA Board, chaired by the president, has greenlighted a total of 194 projects that include physical connectivity, water resources, digital connectivity, health, power and energy, agriculture, and other infrastructure. Some of the new projects included in the list are the Panay Railway Project, Mindanao Railway Project III, North Long Haul Railway, San Mateo Railway, and University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital Diliman Project. In addiction, the president approved the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Rehabilitation Project, Ilocos Sur Transbasin Project, and the Metro Cebu Expressway. “The new IFPs are seen to address the binding constraints to business investment and expansion that will create more, high-quality, and resilient jobs that will allow us to meet our poverty-reduction goals for the medium term,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said. To hasten the rollout of these projects, Balisacan said the Marcos administration is strongly promoting the utilization of public-private partnerships (PPPs). For this reason, he said 45 IFPs will be financed through partnerships with the private sector. “The government shall harness the financial and technical resources of the private sector, which allows the public sector to allocate its funds for greater investments in human capital development, especially to address the scarring in health and education,” Balisacan said. The president also designated NEDA as the lead agency that will monitor the implementation of the IFPs and ensure the quality and timeliness of project execution. Meanwhile, Balisacan also said that the NEDA Board approved the proposed amendments to the 2013 NEDA Joint Venture Guidelines. “The NEDA will process the issuance of the revised JV Guidelines in accordance with Section 8 of Executive Order 423, Series of 2005,” Balisacan said. The amendments aim to enhance competition for projects under joint ventures, ensure better performance of private-sector participants, and improve checks and balances to ensure that the project is technically and financially sound. “The amendments shall also ensure that the guidelines are aligned with the provisions of the recently amended Build-Operate-Transfer or BOT Law Implementing Rules and Regulations and the proposed amendments to the BOT Law or PPP Act pending in Congress, but which are expected to be passed by this year,” he concluded.