PPP draft law to be approved in Lebanon
Date
October 23, 2010
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Mohammed Safadi, Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transportation, said in in the last Reuters Middle East Investment Summit the following:
I hope a draft law on public private partnerships (PPP) would be approved within three months, opening the way for the private sector to enter the market.
"Today, our main problem against future growth is basically the infrastructure and if we do not sort out the infrastructure, this growth that we're witnessing today is going to dwindle and will vanish,"
The article in the Peninsulaalso states that Lebanon is famous for its robust service-oriented sectors, but many investors are discouraged from setting up businesses in a country where power cuts are frequent, road networks beyond the capital are insufficient and communication lines are slow.Mohammed Safadi showed evidence of his commitment to infrastructure investment:
"You're not talking about less than $20bn ... to get these areas to basic (levels). We're not talking about expansion needed for the future, just to cope with demand today." A total of $4bn is earmarked for infrastructure investment in the 2010 and 2011 budgets, neither of which have been ratified by parliament because of political wrangling.
If the budgets are ratified, Lebanon expects to spend $1.2bn to $1.3bn on expansions and improvements to electricity and water networks, $300m to $400m on roads and the rest on communications.
We will keep our eyes well open to see if the new draft law is approved and published. Come back to this blogfor more news on Middle East's infrastructure.Follow us on twitter!
