The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a public-private partnership extending technical assistance to Cebu City in the Philippines that could align the city’s solid waste management with modern urban requirements.
The bank’s assistance, under its Asia-Pacific Project Preparation Facility, and with the support of Yokohama City, is expected to fund a review of the economic, legal, social and environmental challenges around the implementation of the project. The review provides the basis for a secure project design by the city’s authorities, and will take into account plans for the private sector to build, finance, operate and maintain the project over time.
Ryuichi Kaga, head of ADB’s Office of Public-Private Partnership, commented that partnerships of this kind play a critical role for urban areas in Asia and the Pacific and allow the bank to “improve infrastructure delivery and quality of life for residents”.
The bank’s Asia-Pacific Project Preparation Facility, also known as AP3F, is a trust fund comprising several donors. It is managed by the ADB with the purpose of allowing developing Asia and the Pacific to line up bankable public-private partnership projects in the market.
The facility was announced in May 2015 and took in US$73 million in initial funding, including US$40 million from the Government of Japan, CA$20 million from Canada, and AU$10 million from Australia. ADB has meanwhile contributed US$10 million to the fund.
In addition to its work in Cebu City, the ADB, in collaboration with Yokohama City, plans to roll out solid waste management projects in Da Nang, Vietnam, as well as similar urban projects in the wider region.