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THE
committee that conducted the May 10 public hearings on
the proposed amendments to the build-operate-transfer (BOT)
law is going for transparency and thus presenting the
entire proceedings unedited and unabridged.
“We will
let the BOT-Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR)
[committee] deal with the comments and issues,” said
newly appointed Deputy Director General Rolando
Tungpalan of the National Economic and Development
Authority (Neda).
President Arroyo, in asking for the BOT-IRR amendments,
said implementation of privately instituted
infrastructure projects had been very slow because of
legal limitations.
Neda
Director General Romulo Neri said the goal is to make
implementing agencies more responsible for their
actions. “Even as we do not want them to lose control
over their actions, we nonetheless want to empower them
even with their limited capacities.”
Among
the issues raised was the Investment Coordinating
Committee’s (ICC’s) technical expertise to evaluate
projects and approve them even if it overrides the line
agencies’ and local government units’ approvals. A
proposed amendment empowers Neda-ICC to approve an
endorsed list of projects.
“The
agencies are the first line of defense [against
unscrupulous projects] . . . They cannot be empowered
[for such] if we do not start building up their
capacities,” said Neri.
Former
Neda director general Cielito Habito had commented the
slow movement of BOT projects was not due to ICC
procedures but actual field conditions like right-of-way
issues, dealing with squatters and temporary restraining
orders.
Agencies
instead must be strengthened in preparing feasibility
studies and other preapproval activities to ensure that
all requirements are complete before going through the
ICC, he said.
The
BOT-IRR Committee is composed of the Neda, Departments
of Public Works and Highways, of Transportation and
Communications, of Energy, of Environment and National
Resources, of Agriculture, of Trade and Industry, of
Finance, of the Interior and Local Government, and other
concerned government agencies. |
