Manila, Philippines- Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima announced that the Aquino administration is looking at initially setting aside P15 billion next year for the planned multi-billion pesos Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) initiative.

The finance department chief said the initial share of the government in the PPP initiative will be spent on land acquisitions or “right of way,” which will pave the way for more private investments in the country's infrastructure.

“The 15 billion is the government counterpart funding for the first few projects,” Purisima told reporters on the sidelines of House Appropriations Committee Budget Hearing late Wednesday.

Purisima said the government has preliminary listed 70 projects. From that number, the official said the finance department will come up with a “priority” list, which will be announced in October this year.

“Once we finalized the list, we will have a better feel on the magnitude of these projects. We will disclose the final details in October,” he added.

Purisima, however, assured investors that the government will bid-out all projects that will be included in the PPP program.

But he also said that government has yet to come up with initial estimates on how much the private sector will have to shell out for the partnership. “It depends on the deal. There may be deals where bulk of the money is private, but if there is a right of way issue, for example tollways, then [the government] will have to buy,” Purisima said.

Meanwhile, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad, said the P15 billion will be shared by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) and Department of Agriculture.

Abad also said P500 million is earmarked for DPWH and P100 million for DoTC to undertake feasibility studies on the PPP program.

A PPP Center will be set up under the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to “provide technical assistance and help facilitate the development of PPP proposals for high impact projects.”

The budget department was not clear if the NEDA-run Center will also tap into the budgeted counterpart funds for the PPP program.