Vol. 34 Nos. 3-4 (July-December 2013)
Governance (Policy Issues)...
(From page 38)
designed has been unable to correct fiscal imbalances
between tiers of local governments, which resulted in
the uneven performance of local governments. The
evidence
suggested that Eastern Samar’s critical constraints
to local roads development are: 1) low levels of
investment on rural infrastructure and poor local
roads network as a result of national policy design
and low levels of local revenues; 2) high vulnerability
to and costs of corruption as a result of poor and
lack of accountability; 3) poor institutional and
organizational capacity of the local government;
and 4) lack of citizens/ civil society engagement.
He suggested that the evidenced-based analyses of
the impact of decentralization in the Philippines and
elsewhere should combine both macro and by tier
of local governments to capture its real effects and
policy issues, thereby providing policy options at the
appropriate institutional level (i.e. national or subnational). The pitfalls of decentralization including its
impact measurement should likewise be recognized.
He therefore argued the need to map, measure and
(re) design intergovernmental fiscal transfers for local
roads
development, rural infrastructure as well as other local
service delivery functions. There is also a need to
conduct a comprehensive assessment and development
plan for local roads at the provincial, municipal and
barangay levels; and to promote collaboration between
the province and municipalities, and central-local
governments. At the national level, it is important to
revisit fiscal decentralization policy to finance rural
infrastructure including local roads development
and improve financial allocation, utilization and
accountability for inclusive growth and development;
and to address fiscal gap for local roads development
through a design of an intergovernmental fiscal
transfer instrument, primarily for provinces and
municipalities with clear resource pool, allocation
and administration, funds flow and accountability
mechanism. He ended his presentation by advancing
a framework for local governance reform and subnational strategy to strengthen local governance
institutions through local roads investment.
EROPA Bulletin
39
Problems and Prospects of Public-Private
Partnership
In his presentation,
Dr. Pratyush Mani
Tripathi plotted the
differences between
traditional procurement
and public-private
partnership (PPP).
Tripathi’s report
indicated that PPP
can be adopted in
many sectors that require infrastructure such as
power, transport, urban, education and health. He also
explainedt that PPP allows for availability of private
sector financing, increasing value for money through
efficiency gains (faster implementation), benefit from
private sector efficiency, augmenting government
resources, customer service orientation, and improving
access to service delivery. Similarly, it provides the
private sector with business opportunities. Despite
the benefits of PPP, there remain problems that hinder
its realization. This includes the global financial
crisis which would result in more specific problems
of financing and economic slowdown. There are also
other challenges including complexity, the possibility
of higher user charges, and the non-suitability of some
projects under the PPP framework, among others.
Actualizing Public
Private Partnership
(PPP): A Unique
Brand of Governance
In her presentation,
Dr. April Teodosio
narrowed down
on the success of
one growth area in
the country via the
realization of PPP in infrastructure development
including non-traditional infrastructure sectors. The
LGU concerned revealed that PPP could best exist
and operate when there is a prevailing competitive
(Continued on the next page)
and healthy business