ADFIAP participated in the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Local Infrastructure Feasibility Expert (LIFE) Training Program held on June 10, 11, 13, 14, 2013 at the ADB Manila headquarter’s auditorium. The 4-day workshop sponsored by the National Infrastructure Information System (NIIS) project was participated by 40 technical staff from the Regional Development Council Secretariat, concerned national government agencies and provincial governments of the MIMAROPA region in Southern Tagalog, Philippines, comprising of the provinces of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. The training program’s objectives were to: (1) raise the skill and competency levels of the participants in preparing pre-investment and feasibility studies of infrastructure projects (2) enhance coordination and collaboration among the concerned agencies in packaging projects and (3) provide standards on project preparation.
To enrich the discussion and exchange of views, experiences and best practices, finance experts from the ADFIAP-member Land Bank of the Philippines and ADFIAP Consulting (AC) also attended as observers/resource persons during the training. Ms. Corazon D. Conde, AC Group Head acted as one of the panelists during the culminating event code-named “MIMAROPA got Projects!” where seven (7) groups presented live projects which they worked and built on during the various sessions, applying the learnings in each session. Each project was scored based on a set of criteria and, at the end, commendations were given to the top 3-scoring projects. The other participants were also given the chance to vote for the project of their choice via text voting and these were taken into account in the final scoring.
ADFIAP, through AC, has been assisting the NIIS project in developing networks of institutions that are into or considering going into infrastructure project preparation, development and financing. The NIIS
https://www.infrastructure-system.info/index.htm) is a web-based information platform developed with support from ADB and the Republic of Korea through the ADB’s Regional Technical Assistance 7379: “Establishment of e-Systems to Support Infrastructure Financing in Asia”. It is particularly useful in the initial and early development stages of infrastructure project finance by providing a series of tools to: (a) capture key project data in a systematic and consistent way across multiple locations and multiple sectors (b) identify and fill any gaps in project planning and preparation (c) identify and mitigate project risks and (d) guide a project towards PPP structuring and private-sector institutional and commercial investment by providing links to marketing and funding resources. NIIS users include project developers such as government and government agencies; project advisors and developers; and financiers such as banks, investment funds, DFIs and other financial institutions.
For more information on the LIFE training program and NIIS, please email us at [email protected]