Uganda's Parliament chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has passed the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Bill, 2012, which will govern the relationship between government and the private sector in public private partnerships and will provide guidelines and procedures for the development of PPP projects in Uganda.

The bill defines roles and responsibilities of government bodies, project officers and the private party during the development and implementation of the PPP projects. It also seeks to  provide for methods of procurement and the engagement of the private partners in PPPs.

Under the new bill, a new unit to oversee the implementation of public-private partnerships, will be created. This unit is expected to help with project selection, development, tendering process and management.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Advisory in Private Public Partnerships (C3P) has been engaged by the Government of Uganda  to assess the potential to develop on a PPP basis, the 77 km Greenfield Expressway between  Kampala  and  Jinja  with  a  possible extension  to include the 17 Km Kampala Southern Beltway.

Last week, we reported that the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MoJCA) of Uganda has received 13 EOIs from interested parties to develop an office park for the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) Institutions through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project.

Other countries in the region have followed this same strategy. Kenya passed the PPP Act on January 14, 2013 and adopted it in line with the national development roadmap called "Vision 2030".