Government pushing Public-Private Partnerships

DPI, GUYANA, Thursday, April 26, 2018

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan today presented government’s Public-Private Policy Framework to the National Assembly.

The framework is an institutional and legal outline which encourages the private sector to participate in the procurement and financing of public projects.

There are more than sixteen Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) which the Government is committed to utilising to help build the country’s economy.

According to the framework, the Government’s intention is to encourage innovation in as many ways as possible. It said PPP’s have been applied to the infrastructure sector, in particular areas of electricity, telecommunications, water, transport and solid waste.

In the early stages of the development of the PPP’s, the government will focus on a number of key areas of development. These include the Demerara Harbour Bridge, the Linden Lethem road link, the Deep-Water Harbor and container port, the Mini and Maxi Hydro plants and energy farms, plantation agriculture, modernisation and dredging of port Georgetown, milk plant for Guyana, information technology farm and the agro-industrial and small Manufacturing arks.

The government believes that the benefits and advantages of the PPP’s can be significant when they are designed well and implemented in a balanced regulatory framework.

Minister Jordan addressing the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank in Tunisia earlier this month, had reported that Guyana adopted a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Framework, which the government recognises has the potential to expand the resource envelope for public sector investment in a prudent, efficient and effective manner.

He said the Framework provides a structured platform for local and external private sectors to meaningfully engage with Government to achieve economic development.

 

By: Alexis Rodney