PPP in Syria - great news Alessandro indeed

Public-Private Partnership (PPP), Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build-Own-Operate Transfer (BOOT) and Build-Own (BO) and other investment systems were the focus of the symposium for promoting partnership between the public and private sectors which was held under the patronage of Dr Abdulla al-Dardari, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs at the Headquarters of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on 24 May in cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce - Syria.

The seminar was held particularly for the introduction of the Anglo-Saxon experience in investment based on PPP principles, presented by two British experts who gave their own ideas on the subject and what PPP needs in terms of legislative and legal frameworks which may vary according to the different priorities of each country and type of project.“The Tenth Five-year Plan (FYP) (2006-2010) aims to achieve growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 7%”, said Dr. Yaroub Bader, Syrian Minister of Transport on behalf of the al-Dardari adding that according to what has been implemented so far, Syria needs investments estimated at 1850 million SYP (40 billion USD) during this period in order to reach this figure. He pointed out that the Syrian general budget can cover about half of that amount, adding that Syria needs to encourage the private sector to contribute to the 7% growth through achieving investment inflows worth 20 billion USD to generate employment opportunities and bring added value to the national economy.

The Syrian government has raised efforts to achieve PPP in order to push forward the development process in Syria. He stressed that the private sector has great capacities but does not invest in development projects. Savings are gone to the real estate sector for fast profit gain ignoring the need to reach high economic growth rates necessary to the generations to come.In response to the above, the Syrian government has opened the opportunity for the private sector to invest in many projects such as the infrastructure sector.A PPP Committee has been established and is the legislative framework for PPP in addition to a Unit specializing in PPP affiliated to Prime Ministry to transfer the PPP vision into reality.John Jenkins, the British Ambassador to Damascus, said that timing of the workshop couldn’t have been perfect as Syria is showing great interest in PPP. The British government and service providers are concerned in this matter as many British companies are seeking to invest in Syria. “The symposium is the perfect opportunity to convey a clear understanding of the principles of PPP in Syria to those companies who are planning to invest in Syria in order to speedup establishment of projects”, said the Ambassador.