Wooing investors: Public-private partnership bill passed amidst ruckus

Three other bills on the agenda of the assembly session were also passed.

LAHORE:

Treasury benches of the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday passed four bills, including the Punjab Public-Private Partnership Bill 2014, which aims to foster an enabling environment for public-private partnerships.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology Multan Bill 2014, the Punjab Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2014 and the Punjab Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014 were also passed.

Acting Speaker Sardar Sher Khan Gorchani presided over the session. The Health Department was discussed during the question hour.

The opposition benches tried to protest, but the speaker chose to discuss the four bills on the agenda for the day. The opposition benches, instead of submitting proposed amendments to various bills, chanted slogans, thumped desks, tore down copies of the agenda and threw them towards the speaker.

Public-Private Partnership Bill

The bill was referred to the standing committee on Planning and Development on March 7.

Committee chairman Raja Muhammad Ali told The Express Tribune that this was the third time the government had passed the bill. He said the first bill was passed in 2010 and later, with some amendments, in 2013. Officials close to the development say the amendments to the bill were introduced to make it more “investor-friendly”.

They said the Sindh and Balochistan governments had passed similar bills in 2010 but had been unable to attract investors.

In Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, the government had not yet introduced a bill on the subject in the assembly.

They said investors had reservations over previous versions of the bill, which did not provide a mechanism for decision-making. Transparency in public-private partnerships was also a concern. Ali said the bill aimed to address the reservations of investors.

He said the steering committee which formulated policies and supervised and coordinated implementation of the act had been strengthened.

He said previously, six bureaucrats handled the investors. He said under the new bill, the committee would ensure participation of two private experts through two-year contracts. He said two MPAs would also be on the committee.

According to the statement of objectives of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology Multan Bill 2014, the government wanted to set up a university in Multan to promote research in engineering. The university aims to develop capability in quality teaching, research and development to improve the existing industrial and technological infrastructure.

The Punjab Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2014 was enacted in place of the Mental Health Ordinance 2001 which was devolved under the 18th Amendment.

The statement of objectives of the Punjab Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014 said that the bill was required for conformity with conventions C87 and C98 of the International Labour Organisation ratified by the government.

The provision specifying limits on the number of workers for formation of an association has been proposed for amendment to omit restriction on the freedom of association.

Some errors have also been proposed to be corrected through this bill.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2014.