Government to meet infrastructural needs through PPPs: strategy adopted

To provide relief and food security to the common man, the democratically elected government has adopted a new strategy to meet the country's infrastructural needs through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Emphasising the importance of initiating new infrastructure projects with the active participation of the private sector, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Salman Farooqui on Tuesday while chairing a meeting, asked the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) and the Board of Investment (BOI) to take lead in developing such projects taking into account PPPs modalities.
Ghulam Murtaza Satti, Advisor IPDF, said that the government recognises the importance of improving and expanding infrastructure services for sustaining economic and social development of the country. Speedy development and execution of the infrastructure projects embodied in the country's medium-term development framework, he said. The government has chalked out a strategy which envisages to cover less than 50 percent infrastructural investment needs through public funds and to meet the remainder through PPP modalities.
Satti said that during his recent visit to the USA, President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari chaired a conference of the Friends of Pakistan and the participating countries, while assessing Pakistan's needs, estimated an overall gap of 15 billion dollars in the public fund and committed to help Pakistan to come out of its economic hardships.
He said, many countries, in particular Abu Dhabi, America, China and Saudi Arabia as well as the European Union, have expressed their keenness to invest in the infrastructure development projects in Pakistan. There is, however, the need to promote specific projects to attract foreign direct investment, he added.
Public-Private-Partnership is an alternate method of procurement for the public sector in which the private sector capital and management is embodied to plan, implement and operate an infrastructure project.
The PPP mode has now become an integral component of Pakistan government's overall strategy for the provision of public services and public infrastructure across for sustaining economic and social growth, poverty reduction and job creation. The major benefit of PPP modalities is that the initial financial expenses for the project to be borne by the private party, thereby involving minimal public capital expenditure.