Belarus is the CIS leader in creating the public private partnership institution, said Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky before an out session of the interagency infrastructure coordination council on 7 April.
According to Alexander Zaborovsky, the process of creating the public private partnership institution in Belarus is gaining pace. “A bill on public private partnership has been prepared. Public consultations have been held. The bill has been discussed in ministries and the regions. The bill is being polished now and will be submitted for approval according to the established procedure. Both domestic and foreign investors are interested in making long-term investments in the development of infrastructure projects in Belarus as a country with effective and stable legislation and an effective government,” noted the First Deputy Economy Minister.
Work on major infrastructure projects proceeds alongside the preparation and improvement of the relevant legal base. Moreover, projects based on public private partnership principles have already been implemented in the country. The construction of toll roads can be considered as an example of cooperation between private companies and the state. The same approach will be used to reconstruct part of the M10 motorway. It is a trans-oblast project suggested by the Transport and Communications Ministry. “We are going to implement the project in association with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Bank's initiative to participate in the project within the framework of a package of infrastructure projects was put forth during a recent visit of EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti to Belarus,” said Alexander Zaborovsky.
Participants of the session of the interagency infrastructure coordination council were supposed to review eight pilot projects suggested by oblast administrations for implementation using public private partnership principles. The best three projects will be selected by members of the interagency infrastructure coordination council and will be presented at the international congress Public Private Partnership Days that will take place in the UK on 16-17 July 2015. “We are going to present these projects within the framework of Belarus Days in London where the experience of various developing countries in forming modern institutions to support public private partnership will be discussed. Thus, we will try to attract investors into the spheres the state considers a priority. Once more we will demonstrate that business terms and the economic policy in Belarus are effective for long-term investments,” noted the Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister.
Source: BelTA