Philippines mulls offering some airports’ operations to private sector

The Marcos administration is looking to offer to the private sector the management and operations of some airports as part of its initiative to revive public-private partnerships, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Friday.

Diokno said handing off the operations of some airports would “actually help us expand our fiscal space.”

“There are some airports, where we can actually offer them for unsolicited or solicited proposals that the private sector will operate the airports. We might consider those,” Diokno said at a press briefing after a meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

“For example, in Bohol. We constructed the Bohol International Airport. I think it will significantly improve the operations and management of the airport if the private sector will run it. We might consider giving it to the private sector,” he added.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that the Marcos administration would “reinvigorate, reexamine and bring back PPPs

“We’ll reach out to the private sector because he [President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] believes that the private sector plays a very strong role in economic development,” Balisacan said on ANC.

When the Duterte administration unveiled its P8.2-trillion Build, Build, Build program, it initially shunned away from PPP projects as it pushed for more government and official development assistance funded projects.

In 2019, the government shrank the size of the Build, Build, Build program to P4.7 trillion after scrapping several big-ticket projects due to feasibility issues and then expressed openness to more collaborations with the private sector.

Diokno earlier said that the government will spend some 5% to 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for infrastructure annually between 2023 to 2028.

Data from the Department of Budget and Management show that in 2021 infrastructure disbursements reached P1.12 trillion, equivalent to 5.8% of GDP. —NB, GMA News