Opt for long-term PPP projects
Says UK based expert
Bangladesh should opt for long-term projects while constructing infrastructures under the public private partnership (PPP) framework as short-term projects might not be suitable, said a top expert of a UK-based professional services provider yesterday.
“Bangladesh should think long-term when it comes to building infrastructure under the PPP framework. It is a long-term issue,†said Richard Abadie, global leader of capital projects and infrastructure of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
His comments came at a plenary session styled “PPP in Bangladesh: Applying international best practices†on the first day of a two-day “PPP Global Investors' Forum: Bangladesh 2012†at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital.
The PPP Office, under the Prime Minister's Office, and the Board of Investment jointly organised the event.
The aim was to showcase the government's initiative to project the progress of its policies and framework and also to create an environment conducive to the projects taken up by PPP investors.
Richard Abadie said there should not be any short-term planning for infrastructure projects on political consideration.
The expert called for multi-party support to build infrastructures on PPP framework as constructing projects under the arrangement takes a considerable amount of time and involves risks.
He said globally there were many genuine players who were financing infrastructure projects. Bangladesh will have to target how much money it wants to attract under its PPP programmes, he said.
Richard Abadie said risk allocation was at the heart of PPP and risks associated with PPP should be sensibly allocated between the public and private firms.
Projects will not be completed within the stipulated time if risks are heavily tilted towards the private firms, he said.
“There must be transparency and fairness in the contracts,†he said.
John Grant Hauber, principal specialist at the Asian Development Bank on PPP, said Bangladesh came a long way by drafting laws and policies on PPP.
“The government must be congratulated for the achievement. But this is just the beginning.â€
He called for better coordination between the PPP Office and the line ministry for the better implementation of projects.
Muslim Chowdhury, additional secretary to the finance ministry; Syed AH Uddin, chief executive officer of PPP Office; Faruque Hossain, deputy secretary, PPP Unit of the finance ministry; and AKM Abdullah, financial sector specialist of the World Bank; also spoke at the programme.
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