The parliament of Kuwait discussed during a session last week the second hearing of the public transportation authority law, a bill to establish a court for administrative disputes and amendments to the build-operate- transfer (BOT) law.

The BOT law is Law No. 7/2008 and the new regulations issued by the executive to implement it can be found in Law No. 256/2008. These two pieces provide the framework for PPP projects in Kuwait.

The financial and economic steering committee had recently referred its report containing recommendations to amend the BOT law with hope to make it more attractive for local and foreign investors.

The law will be renamed to become the 'public-private partnership' (PPP) law. The law define one type of BOT projects with higher risk to the private party which acts as the owner during the contract period, other PPP agreements allow a company to use government-owned equipment and properties as per a short-term contract.

The proposal also aims to redefine the Partnership Technical Bureau, a state department established in 2008 to serve as the main body responsible for PPP projects' implementation, as a public authority under the finance minister.

The draft law further recognizes infrastructure projects among the elements targeted by the PPP system, eliminates the land value from the project's total value and increases the maximum contract period from 40 to 50 years. It also introduces provisions to protect intellectual property.