Government to bring PPP white paper

Finance Minister Surendra Pandey accepted that there is a huge gap of understanding on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) between the private sector and government.
"To make the government's standing clear, National Planning Commission (NPC) -- the government think-tank -- is bringing a White Paper on PPP," he said, addressing a workshop 'Leveraging Public - Private-Partnerships for Development’, organised jointly by the government and World Bank/IFC in the Valley today.
"The government has only bitter memories regarding the PPP in the past," he said, accusing the private sector for non-cooperation in the past. However, he said that proper structured PPP can help tap more investment opportunities.
Nepal needs huge private sector investment on infrastrucutre and hydropower but due to lack of national PPP policy, it could not attract the private sector investment, he said, adding that there are daunting challenges and infrastructure is grossely underdeveloped, poor connectivity has led to the high cost of trade.
"Nepal is working to build support for greater private participation in the country’s development through sustainable PPP models as part of the overall growth framework," he added.
Pandey also admitted that economy is not getting proper attention due to pressing political issues.
The workshop -- second in the series -- today is part of a series of IFC-led events in South Asia to identify and address concerns and challenges related to public-private partnerships among stakeholders.
International Financial Corporation (IFC) -- a member of the World Bank Group -- is working with policymakers and private sector players to help meet development agenda through public-private partnerships.
In Nepal, IFC partnered with the Ministry of Finance along with the World Bank and the World Bank Institute. The event brought together specialists and expert speakers from around the world. Government officials and public sector departments of renewable energy, transportation, civil aviation, and health care and private sector members and other multilateral partners took part in the workshop, where they discussed on improving quality of services, gaining efficiencies, and boosting economic growth through private participation in social and physical infrastructure.
"Longlasting public-private arrangements could receive public ownership while generating interest among local private sector players and other development partners with shared goals,” said Laurence Carter, director of IFC Advisory Services in PPP.
Public-private partnership initiatives are important for building new and modern airports and expressways that will boost tourism and social-infrastructure growth to meet growing health and education needs.
Public-private partnership activity can make an important contribution to address the country’s immediate infrastructure needs and garnering needed funding for the purpose.
The workshop highlighted benefits of PPP such as knowledge sharing, institution building, and building awareness on designing, structuring, and tendering sustainable public-private partnership projects.
It also aimed at facilitating sharing of successful case studies and lessons of effective PPP from across the globe.