Aquino admin to sell bonds for PPP infra projects

To raise money for the public-private partnership program (PPP), the Aquino administration intends to issue infrastructure bonds, the finance secretary said Monday. Proceeds from the issues will help finance projects for the next three years, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, told reporters in an interview. “We will create a pool of funds to support solicited projects and we will issue bonds as necessary," he said. To be floated in the domestic market, the bonds will carry 20 to 25 years maturity or less depending on the terms or duration of an infrastructure project. The government will hold a PPP conference on Nov. 18 and 19 to showcase at least 10 infrastructure projects ready for implementation. The finance chief declined to identify the projects, saying these are in water, transportation, food security, and food supply chain. If the government can attract enough investors for an infrastructure project, then it can expect a significant improvement in economic growth, he said. Ten more infrastructure projects will be in the pipeline by 2011 and more than 10 by 2012, Purisima said. Talks are now in the final stages on how multilateral agencies can participate in the program via infrastructure funding. While the Aquino administration expects the economy to grow by 5 percent to 6 percent in terms of the gross national product this year, officials are saying that actual growth may exceed such expectations because the dollar remittances by Filipinos working abroad are hefty. — VS, GMANews.TV