Gov't raises ICC review threshold to P5B, expands oversight to PPP projects

THE ECONOMY and Development (ED) Council has overhauled the review and approval process for government programs and infrastructure projects, such as raising the cost threshold and including public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

- - A.R.A.Inosante

In a statement, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDey) said the Council, chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., approved the new guidelines that would be applied to new and ongoing projects that require action from the ED Council or Investment Coordination Committee (ICC).

Under the new guidelines, projects funded by the national budget will now require ICC review if they exceed P5 billion. The previous threshold was at P2.5 billion.

“We have raised the threshold from P2.5 billion to P5 billion already, while at the same time putting safeguards into the various stages of the approval process so that we can spot possible issues or problems that may arise,” DEP-Dev Secretary and ED Council Vice-Chair Arsenio M. Balisacan said in the Philippine Development Forum on Monday.

The sweeping changes were prompted by a billion-peso flood control scandal that exploited loopholes in government policies to evade scrutiny.

The ICC earlier said that flood control and management projects will now be aggregated by river basin rather than evaluated individually with lower tagged costs.

Under the new guidelines, the ICC’s coverage also includes PPP projects.

The ICC will also conduct a mandatory review of all foreign loan-assisted projects, regardless of loan amount or total cost, except for grant-assisted projects, which are reviewed by DEPDev.

Mr. Balisacan said streamlining the ICC process and clarifying its scope will make project evaluation more rigorous while minimizing delays.