New PPP unit begins search for investments
Sri Lanka’s new Private Public Partnership (PPP) division set up at the Finance Ministry is making preliminary arrangements to secure investments with private sector engagement for planning, implementation, financing and maintenance of certain infrastructural assets owned by the state agencies.
This division functioning under the Treasury has already recruited executive staff to support and advise the relevant ministries on selection, implementation and management of PPP projects, official sources disclosed.
Sixteen executive level vacancies of the PPP division have been filled by calling for applications through an unusual process, these sources said
Normally applications for recruitments for the ministry are called under the signature of Treasury Secretary, who is the chief accounting officer.
Recruitments were made for the posts of Coordinating Secretary, Back Office Manager, Director Investment, Director Economic and Financial, Director Legal, Director Transaction and Risk, as well as executives for Business, Investment, Economic, Financial, Legal, Promotional, Transaction Management and Risk Management sections.
Bradley Emerson, former CEO of CIMA Sri Lanka has been appointed as the new CEO of the division at a massive salary, the sources revealed.
The Treasury has allocated Rs. 75 million for the initial expenses of the new PPP division mainly comprising 17 personnel recruited for a period of three years.
“This will be the first step of leveraging the maximum number of solicited and unsolicited proposals brought forward for PPPs,” a senior official of the National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry told the Business Times.
The Sunday Times revealed details of the establishment of the PPP unit at the Finance ministry in an article under the heading “New public – private unit to improve public service” on 16-10-2016.
This division has been set up with World Bank funding for long-term contractual arrangements between the public and private sectors in the delivery of public services.
It will be entrusted with the task of developing new infrastructure services despite short-term fiscal constraints and gain value for money through efficiencies in procurement, construction and operation.
The aim is to improve service quality and innovation through use of private sector expertise and performance incentives.
This was part of an initiative to promote Public Private Partnerships for infrastructure development projects in Sri Lanka and restructuring of some of the State Owned Enterprises.