After soul-searching, PPPA plans to woo more pvt investment

Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) has decided to scrutinize its existing projects with a target to attract more private investment under PPP model. The decision came from the PPPA board meeting presided over by the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus.

The meeting decided that the government will receive PPP model proposal from the Japanese private sector investors for the operation and maintenance work of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh will take necessary steps in this regard. 

Earlier, there was Government to Government (G2G) contract between the two countries for the development and maintenance of the third terminal of the largest international airport of the country.

Officials said since the authority has already developed a good number of attractive and well-designed projects with the possibility of attracting foreign investments, a  decision has been taken to remain more careful while including new projects in the PPP model.

A large number of the projects have been listed at the initial stage without considering viability or marketability, which would be scrutinised," said an official.

The official further said that a directive to find weaker projects through scrutiny and drop those from the PPP pipeline after consultation with all stakeholders came from the 8th Executive Board Meeting of the PPPA held recently.

Officials said the authority, however, will try to overcome the shortcomings of the schemes during its meeting with relevant stockholders.  

Director Mohammad Abul Bashar presented overall scenario of the PPP projects in the meeting. According to the meeting minutes, the government is expecting to provide incentive to the PPP projects while scrutinizing rationality of those projects.

PPPA sources said the board discussed the minutes of the last meeting and the progress of significant decisions; as well as what needs to be done to address the overall challenges of the PPP programme. The meeting concluded with a review of the current status of the ongoing projects.

As per sources the last meeting mainly discussed issues related to the post-pandemic situation to make the PPPA prepared for secured investment and spend significant time on the attractive projects to make those bankable and marketable. Besides, the authority will also determine the contingency liability and indirect liability of the all PPP projects.  

Since the formation of PPPA in 2015, it has been working on a total of 77 approved projects of road transport, bridges, power, tourism, health, etc under the PPP model. But only two health sector projects are in operation and six are at the construction stage.

Sources said many projects did not progress much after opening tenders several times and even some projects could not be started after contract signing due to various problems. For example, project concerning Shaibal Motel under the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation has been stuck up for several years due to non-cooperation from local influential people. Moreover, Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, whose contract was signed much before the PPPA was formed has been languishing for more than nine years due to lack of funding.

However, the government to government PPP modality has shown signs of promise for the PPPA authority making good progress in attracting investors from Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates for funding projects like multimodal transport hub, expressways and bridge construction.

Last week, Asian Development Bank confirmed US $50 million loans to promote funds and implement PPP infrastructural projects in the country. 

ask/wi