No need for gov't priority projects czar, Palace says

Malacañang on Saturday thumbed down a suggestion to appoint a czar to supervise the government’s priority infrastructure projects, saying the mechanism to do so is already in place. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government already created the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center with an executive director. “In this particular instance (the) PPP Center was created by the Aquino administration. I’m quite certain it was taken into consideration, at ang produkto ang executive director (and the product – the executive director), is a product of the deliberation before it was decided," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She was responding to reported calls by San Miguel Corp. vice president Lorenzo Formoso III that the Aquino administration needs a single point-person, preferably with a Cabinet rank, who will form consistent rules in the implementation of priority infrastructure projects. Formoso said investors need an assurance that there would be no sudden policy shifts that might undermine the financial viability of PPP projects. But Valte said the PPP Center’s executive director, Cosette Canilao, should be the one handling matters related to PPP projects. “To our mind yan na ang nagha-handle ng mga matters related to PPP projects (To our mind, the PPP Center will handle matters related to PPP projects)," Valte said. — LBG, GMA News