A senior government official discouraged investors from adopting ad-hoc ways in approaching line ministries to get their public private partnerships off the ground.
Finance and Mass Media Ministry’s National Agency for Public Private Partnership (PPP) Chairman and acting CEO Thilan Wijesinghe said the main objective was to build institutional capacity so there was no uncertainty from the point of the investor and it would provide a transparent process for the investor and line ministry to follow.
“Investors need to focus on the process. Once a credible process is established, it would be far easier to bring to bear PPP proposals”, he said addressing a session of the Sri Lanka Economic and Investment Conclave at the Kingsbury hotel yesterday.
The intension, Wijesinghe added was to provide a transparent framework, so these proposals could be channelled through a proper negotiated structure and process and not fall on the way side.
As PPPs become the new mantra of the government, he explained that the government was in the process of developing a ‘robust project pipeline’ of PPPs for the next three to four years.
They were mainly looking at the real estate sector and transport in addition to power, housing and information technology.
The PPP unit according to Wijesinghe was staffed by individuals from the private sector, banking, finance and private equity in additional to capable lawyers with international experience to structure complex agreements.
The Conclave organised by the Colombo Chamber of Commerce, Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industry and Commerce of China exchanged knowledge and experience in investing in Sri Lanka and the opportunities available for foreign investors to invest in the country.