APEC eyes PPP knowledge center to facilitate infra investments

Tagaytay City – Representatives of APEC member-economies are proposing a public-private partnership (PPP) Knowledge Portal to facilitate and accelerate investments in infrastructure in the region.

 

"We are recommending to the panel for the various jurisdictions to share knowledge through a knowledge management portal," PPP executive director Cosette Canilao told reporters in a briefing after the 4th APEC PPP Experts Advisory Panel Meeting here.

 

"There has to be sharing of information," Canilao noted, saying investors doing business in the Philippines would be encouraged to examine the business prospects through the she portal.

 

The PPP initiative taps the private sector to put their money and expertise in government projects or programs in order to fill in the investment gap, according to APEC.

 

Under the proposal, the PPP Knowledge Portal will make all project-related data and documents from the region accessible to investors, Canilao said.

 

"It will have several modules... One, it being a repository of all PPP-related information and documents," she said.

 

"We are proposing to the panel other PPP jurisdictions will also go that path and share and link with the rest of the PPP centers so that there will be timely information sharing with respect to the program, and in structuring our various projects," she said.

 

The initiative will also lead to the standardization of contracts or major provisions of the contracts for PPP, the Canilao noted.

 

"We found out here in the Philippines that if government states clearly and far in advance its policies... with respect to PPPs, policies in determination of the payment regime and government action and key provisions of the contract once there are clear policy guidelines, it's easier for the investors – the private sector – to understand the framework by which a country is operating with respect to PPPs," she said.

 

Canilao said the proposal will spur more PPP investments in the region.

 

"The lack of properly prepared or bankable projects – that's one of the areas that the members of the APEC economies are working on to make sure we prepare bankable projects that financial institutions will be able finance," she said.

 

"Private sector participation and financing is one of the key solutions to filling up – narrowing the gap – between what we need and the current infrastructure," she added.

 

The 4th APEC PPP Experts Advisory Panel Meeting is one of the year-round APEC meetings for 2015, which cover issues related to development for the Asia-Pacific region.

 

APEC is the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation with 21 member-economies across the region. – VS, GMA News