Pres. Benigno Aquino III is slated to launch the New Bohol Airport Project in mid-November this year, along with the other major projects of his administration ready for tendering in 2011 and to be funded under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) financing mode. The launching will be held on November 18 and 19 at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City. Bohol First District Congressman Rene Relampagos relayed this last Friday as he received confirmation on the PPP projects launching from National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr.

Formerly the Panglao International Airport Project, the New Bohol Airport, Relampagos said, is long overdue. The First District solon hopes that the project will finally be realized under this Aquino administration as it had been started during the time of former governor Constancio Torralba and it was then-President Cory Aquino who had provided the seed fund for the conduct of the initial studies for the said airport project. Relampagos said that it is lamentable that the project has taken so long. He added that had the bidding of the then-Panglao International Airport Project in the last administration not been tainted with controversy and alleged irregularities, the prosecution of the project should now be already well underway.

The First District solon further bared that nothing is now left of the funds originally provided by the Manila International Airport Authority for the then-Panglao International Airport, which is why, he says, seeking PPP funding for the New Bohol Airport Project (NBAP), which is slated to cost some P7.54 B, is very crucial. Working hand in hand with the Chatto-Lim administration, Cong. Relampagos has been lining up and meeting with potential investors from the private sector who are interested to help finance the project under the PPP mode. To date, Relampagos reports that three major investors have personally expressed their interest to him in participating and cooperating with the government for the completion of the New Bohol Airport. Of the P1 B set aside for the NBAP from the P5 B lump sum appropriation of the Department of Transportation and Communications for PPP projects, P30 million will be used for the conduct of a feasibility study to reconfigure the project into a PPP.

The feasibility study, Relampagos said, will validate the scope, cost, and structure of the project under the PPP mode. He added that there is no longer any doubt that Panglao is the official site of the New Bohol Airport since this was confirmed to him both by Usec. Ruben Reinoso Jr., the DOTC undersecretary for Planning, and Director Inky Lucban, DOTC director for Planning and Policy. Among the PPP projects that will be launched next month as ready for tendering in 2011 are the Puerto Princesa Airport, the NLEx-SLEx Link Expressway, the MRT/LRT Expansion Project, and the Daraga International Airport, among others. Simultaneous with the launching of the 2011 PPP projects is the inauguration of the Public-Private Partnership Center (PPPC), an attached agency to the National Economic Development Authority which will oversee the development and prioritization of government projects sought to be funded under the PPP mode. The PPPC will be headed by an Executive Director who will be appointed by the President and whose rank is equivalent to that of an assistant director general or an assistant secretary. Priority projects identified under PPP are based on the project's readiness and preparation.