26 July
In the newspapers recently there was a news item about some kind of partnership arrangements relating to the provision by private bodies of a service, which is within the competence of a public entity. Then there was an advertisement about the partnership by a competent public entity and a private service provider relating to an educational project. These could be within the area of Public-Private Partnership. There might be other projects as well which may be categorized as being of PPP modality that the public is not aware of.
Public-Private Partnership generally embodies a long term contractual relationship between the competent public entity and the private partner. The duration of the contract is a factor in ensuring the sustainability of the activities if the project is carried out effectively.
A Policy Document for Consultation relating to Myanmar PPP had already been developed under an United Nations Development Account as far back as 2016.
PPP projects, implemented through funds provided largely by donors, local or foreign, and supplemented by Government budget where necessary, could be an effective means of providing quality service, on behalf of the concerned public entity, in many areas including education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, rural development and so on.
According to the Policy Document, in the PPP modality, there are many technical aspects to the agreement, such as those relating to transparency and impartiality by the competent public entity in the selection of proposals and partners, monitoring allocation and effective use of the funds, timely delivery of the expected outcomes, quality assurance of the service/product, the safety of the public etc. There also needs to be delegation of authority by the public entity concerned to enable the private partner to implement the project. These matters and more have been presented in some detail in the Policy Paper.
To cover all areas of PPP, perhaps a Law Relating to PPP is needed as is recommended in the Policy Document. Thus an appropriate law enacted by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw would provide a legal mandate and guidance to public entities and private bodies concerned for carrying out PPP projects effectively.
By Lokethar
