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Pakistan needs more initiatives under PPP modality
Staff Reporter
Islamabad: Pakistan’s massive and ever-growing infrastructure needs
coupled with limited resources, rapid population growth and an
escalating trend in urbanization signify the need for an appropriate
policy package to ensure sustainable development of infrastructure
facilities. “The Government of Pakistan realizes the need to fill
gaps between the demand and supply of infrastructure in a manner
that leverages private resources as far as possible and yields
optimum benefits for every rupee that the government spends”, stated
Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Ghafoor Mirza, in his opening
remarks at the inaugural session of a two-day workshop on Public
Private Partnerships and Municipal Services organized by
Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF). The purpose of
the workshop was to assist in the formulation of an enabling
framework, based on international best practices, for promoting the
use of Public-Private Partnerships.
Mr. Ghafoor Mirza said, the Government of Pakistan has established
IPDF, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance, in order to
develop a comprehensive PPP program, an important economic reform
policy tool, for generating growth and closing gaps between the
supply and demand of infrastructure requirements of the country. He
said: “IPDF is a catalyst to increase the number and volume of
public infrastructure transactions that provide value for money for
the beneficiaries of the facility, while assuring that private
sectors providers are able to earn adequate returns for quality
services.”
The main focus of the program is to financially assist and promote
sustainable and viable projects by using the potential market forces
that deliver critical goods and services to the people at affordable
prices, he added. Earlier, the World Bank’s Operations Advisor, Mr.
Said Al-Hasby, in his welcome address highlighted the importance of
Public Private Partnerships as an integral reform policy tool to
fund future infrastructure investment in the country.
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