El Salvador: Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships

The government has announced it will create an institution that is dedicated to facilitating the management of infrastructure projects carried out under the public-private partnership format.

We will have to wait and see how useful it will be to have a state institution dedicated to carrying out the most essential coastal infrastructure projects.

As explained by the Minister of Public Works, Gerson Martinez, "... the project, which is still in draft form and will come from the President's Office, will function as a small independent body, similar to Fovial, and will be responsible for design, procurement and even preventing strategic projects from being held up by legal or judicial issues."

According to the Government, the aim of this new entity, which would operate outside of the Ministry of Public Works and other institutions that have so far been linked to the development of works through PPPs, is to facilitate pre-investment and project implementation. "...We are thinking about setting up a special agency for pre investment and implementation of PPP´s, because the country needs such projects in order to be successful and bring high net social benefits for the country.", Martinez said in an article on Elmundo.sv

"... The initiative, he said, is in response to commitments under the Partnership for Growth and Fomilenio II. "We are committed to developing the marine coastal corridor and for that we need to raise the state's investment, private investment and also implement PPP´s. 

Source: elmundo.sv