Aquino signs EO 8, creates PPP Center under NEDA

(Updated 4:57 p.m.) President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Order 8, renaming the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Center to the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Center. The order set aside a P300-million working fund for studies and activities of selected PPP programs and projects in line with the administration’s vision of developing such partnerships as the “cornerstone strategy" for national development. EO 8 noted that the PPP Center shall recommend plans, policies, and implementation guidelines related to PPP in consultation with appropriate stakeholders. Singed by the President on Sept. 9, Malacañang on Sunday released EO 8. The center will provide local government units with advisory services, technical assistance, training, and capacity development in project preparation and development. EO 8 also noted that the President of the Philippines, upon recommendation of the socioeconomic planning secretary, will appoint the head of the center. The PPP Center will now be transferred from the Department of Trade and Industry to the National Economic and Development Authority, according to the order. In his State of the Nation Address on July 26, President Aquino highlighted the need to harmonize public and private sector initiatives to spur economic growth, and vowed that BOT projects from the private sector would undergo quick and efficient processes under his administration. —Jesse Edep/Sophia Regina Dedace/KBK/VS, GMANews.TV