ADB, government, Punjab government sign MoU for PPP projects

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Punjab have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly promote Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the Punjab's healthcare sector through the ADB's transaction advisory services, said a press release issued on Tuesday.

The MoU was signed in Lahore by the Head of Public Private Partnership Cell of Planning and Development Board of Punjab Dr Farrukh Naveed and the ADB Country Director for Pakistan, Xiaohong Yang. Chairman Planning and Development Board Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh witnessed the signing ceremony.

"We are pleased to assist the Government of Punjab in developing hospital PPP projects in major cities in order to strengthen health care capacity and improve quality of life for the citizens of Punjab," said Yang.

"It will complement ADB's ongoing support to the PPP programme in Punjab province by creating a pipeline of bankable healthcare PPP projects."

"ADB's involvement as transaction advisor for hospital PPP projects will bring genuine improvements to health systems and we're glad to expand our collaboration with Punjab into this crucial sector," said Head of ADB's Office of Public-Private Partnership Yoji Morishita.

"ADB's advisory support for the first hospital PPP project in Punjab will help unlock investments in the sector by creating a model case with development of template project documents based on international best practices. We hope that the first hospital PPP project can be replicated in other cities and accelerates the development of future projects to improve quality and affordability of health care in Punjab."

Under the MoU, the ADB's Office of Public Private Partnership will screen potential hospital PPP projects in 10 major cities in Punjab including Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Mianwali, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sahiwal, and Sargodha, and will provide transaction advisory services to identify, prepare, structure and tender the top priority hospital projects to develop PPP's.

The ADB will also provide holistic support in undertaking capacity building and development of a potential project pipeline by mobilising technical assistance funds.-PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020