PESHAWAR: A slate of legal complexities and a lack of capacity and required resources has meant that public-private partnership projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have failed to achieve the kinds of results they were expected to produce.
The disappointed observations were made in a report of the provincial Planning and Development (P&D) department, in a report compiled with the support of United Nations Development Program and the British Aid Agency. The report detailed how public-private partnership projects had been a great success in other provinces in Pakistan, particularly Sindh and Punjab, but that KP’s tryst with the idea had failed to come to fruition.
The success of such projects in Sindh and Punjab had been the driving force behind KP’s attempt to implement similar schemes. However, even though public-private partnership has long be slated as the way to go, the past six years have not borne the desired results.
The KP government has received Rs 170 billion less than what it was owed from its share from the federation during the financial year 2019-20, which has had a negative impact on the development program. This has resulted in the uplift funds of a number of projects being significantly reduced.
According to sources, the financial situation in the province will continue to deteriorate for many years to come. In view of the financial crisis, it is not possible for KP to set out on a journey of development other than through public-private partnership. This is why even though there are major flaws in the process, the government and the concerned agencies are going to have to pull through and work together to remove these drawbacks.
The report recommends the development of a public-private partnership system keeping in view the needs of the market, and said that the P&D Department has recommended the provincial government review the KP Public-Private Partnership Act 2014 and remove the shortcoming in consultation with all parties, as well as the views of international organizations and the federal government.
The P&D department has also proposed to enhance the capacity of the Public Private Partnership Unit and keep it in touch with international agencies. The report also recommended the introduction of Public Private Partnership in the health and education sectors on priority basis instead of following the traditional system.
According to the report, the current public-private partnership mechanism needs to be improved for the fastest development program.
