The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is pushing to equip local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines with the know-how to roll out more public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
"The success of PPP projects largely depends on the capability of implementers. The PPP Center alone will not be able to meet the increased demand from LGUs," the ADB said in a Nov. 28 completion report on its technical assistance to the Philippines, its host country, aimed at strengthening PPPs.
As such, "capacity development should be expanded to include LGUs to enhance their implementation capacity," the ADB said.
Also, "support should be provided to the PPP Center to establish a national PPP certification program" supportive of LGU-led projects, it added.
The ADB recommended that "equal focus should be given to the political economy and technical feasibility to advance PPP projects, particularly locally."
"Briefing LGU leaders and decision makers (such as city mayors) on PPP benefits and financing could secure their buy-in," it said.
The Manila-based multilateral lender extended an almost $28.4-million technical assistance grant, implemented by the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), from 2013 to 2023.
With the help of this ADB technical assistance, a PPP manual for LGUs had been finalized and published on the PPP Center's website, the report noted.
"Over 10,649 LGU staff and 8,923 government officials received training on PPPs. A total of 201 local PPP codes were completed with half formally adopted, and policy recommendations for developing climate-resilient local PPP projects were incorporated into the PPP Center's strategy," the report added.
This led to the award of four local PPPs focused on urban resilience, although below the targeted six projects.
Three of these LGU PPPs are ongoing, on top of completing four feasibility studies for locally-led urban-resiliency projects.
To sustain the momentum of both local and national PPP projects, the ADB disclosed that the Philippine government had requested to augment the project development and monitoring facility (PDMF) for PPPs, through a forthcoming loan to be greenlit by the lender's board of directors this December.
The ADB said it helps that "despite a period of reduced emphasis on PPPs under a previous administration... The current administration has renewed its focus on PPPs as a key funding modality" by enacting into law the PPP Code of the Philippines under Republic Act (RA) No. 11966 last year.
"This law institutionalized the PPP Center as a permanent body and provided greater legal certainty to the PDMF, including its revolving feature; clarified the administration of unsolicited proposals; provided guidance on the use of incentives; and restricted the issuance of provisional reliefs to the Supreme Court," it noted.
"Currently, the PPP Center is evaluating 25 active projects and has identified 37 more projects out of a list of 98 priority projects for funding by the PDMF, underscoring the lasting impact of the technical assistance's initiatives," according to the ADB.