Draft law on PPP to be submitted to Belarus Parliament within two to three months

BREST (BelTA) - The draft law on public-private partnership will be submitted to the Parliament in the coming months, Viktor Valyushitsky, the chairman of the permanent commission on economic policy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, said during the visiting session of the Interagency Infrastructure Coordinating Council (IICC) in Brest.

"The Economy Ministry is finalizing the draft law on public-private partnership, taking into account all remarks submitted during the discussions and also the best international practices. The draft has been approved by the Council of Ministers and is being prepared to be submitted to the House of Representatives. We expect it in the Parliament within two to three months. We would want the bill to pass the first reading this year. This will be a step towards its subsequent adoption,” Viktor Valyushitsky noted.

The MP noted that the system of public-private partnership in the country has been developing slowly but consistently. The position of the lower house of parliament is consistent with the position of the government: the adoption of the draft law on PPP is envisaged in the concept of the government's plan of action in 2015 approved by the national Parliament.

According to the Chairman of the Permanent Commission, the PPP has no alternative. “There are no enough budget resources for infrastructure projects. They are not enough even in well developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the United States. PPP is the mechanism by which a country solves social problems. This is beneficial to the state and business: the former gets a good social facility, the latter, having invested in development of infrastructure, gets a steady income over, say, 15-20 years,” said the MP.

At the meeting in Brest the council examined 8 pilot projects which were presented by every region. These projects will be implemented through the mechanism of public-private partnership. After the examination a decision will be taken on the prospects of their implementation on the PPP principles and on the financial model for their successful implementation. "These are the projects in healthcare, public utilities, education, road construction, culture, energy. If we implement them, we will develop the algorithm of our actions in the future,” Viktor Valyushitsky said.