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The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is pushing for the appointment of an infrastructure czar from among the Cabinet members who will serve as point man on priority public-private partnerships, its president Francis Chua said.

Chua also said the PCCI has expressed willingness to support and invest in the infrastructure projects listed under the PPP but said these should be assisted properly and cleared of problems for easier marketing.

Chua said these infrastructure projects should be assured of licenses, permits and environmental clearances as well as cleared of problems involving rights of way and informal settlers.

He said government could even charge a small fee for those permits and licenses and earn money at the same time.

"That way it would be easy to market these projects. These are the problems encountered at ground zero. Businessmen will not mind spending money as long as these permits are ready before they come in. They don’t need to worry about anything," Chua said.

He said these also help in ensuring viability of the projects.

Chua said this would be the role of a czar who will be on top of these projects "so that businessmen will just talk to one person."

Chua said the group would push for the infrastructure projects it identified under the agenda for the first 100 days of President Aquino.

He said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima promised that the PPP lineup would be out before the Philippine Business Conference next month.

"PCCI has its own list. We have not seen the PPP lineup. We have our proposals but we are willing to promote (the ones identified by government)," he said, adding that the group can tap its 120 local chambers in assisting these projects.

Chua said the Philippines should emulate countries like Taiwan and Singapore which have poured resources into specific areas such as electronics and biotechnology.

Government earlier placed the cost of these infrastructure PPP projects at $10 billion but is setting aside P15.6 billion as seed money under the proposed national budget for 2011.

The PCCI in its first 100-days agenda for the president said government should prioritize critical infrastructure projects that are urgently needed and can generate the highest impact.

The PCCI listed the following: power generation and transmission; water supply; seamless road network; airport development; and flood mitigation.

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