THE government is responsible for providing the public infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals, airports, etc. In Pakistan, due to financial crunch, it is not possible for the government to spend huge amounts of money on infrastructure projects.

Besides, it is not equipped to design, construct operate and maintain enormous infrastructure projects in different fields. Therefore, under the public-private partnership (PPP) modality, the government brings in a private party to invest substantial amount for designing, construction, operation and maintenance of financial projects, mostly for a period of 30 or more years.

The Public Private Partnership Authority (P3A) is the federal government’s arm for the execution of PPP transactions between the implementing agencies and the private parties. The federal government, or its implementing agencies, and the private parties save substantial amount due to such a facilitation. It also saves a lot of time due to P3A expertise and the standardisation of PPP documentation.

The projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) require huge funding as it is the desire of every government to provide infrastructure to the people at both local and national levels. For this purpose, the government raises funds through taxation. In Pakistan, unfortunately, owing to low tax collection, the government is unable to fulfill its responsibilities for the provision of infrastructure services.

As such, PSDP projects that are financially viable for the private sector should be identified and allocated to P3A for possible investment by local and international parties. It will be a win-win situation for all concerned.

Saqib Siraj
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021