Saudi Arabia’s approved the Private Sector Participation (PSP) law on Tuesday aimed at increasing private sector participation in infrastructure projects and in the provision of public services to citizens and residents by supporting Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) and the privatization of public sector assets.

In a statement, Rayyan Nagadi, CEO of the National Center for Privatization & PPP (NCP), said that the PSP Law aims to level distribution of risk between government and private sector and reducing the government’s capital budget.

“The PSP Law will also raise the level of transparency, fairness and integrity of procedures for tendering PPP&P contracts,” he added.  

Sultan Al Qahtani, the vice president for Legal & Regulatory Affairs at NCP, said the PSP law will create a governance structure for PPP&P projects that contributes to the implementation of more efficient and effective projects in general, while focusing on high economic impact projects. “Thus, the PSP Law will support Government’s Vision 2030 strategy, contributing to improving spending efficiency, economic diversification, sustainable development and increasing regional and international competitiveness,” he added.

The PSP Law provides a framework for the public sector to participate directly in a project company while protecting the rights of the private partners. On the social front, the law will contribute to improving public services to citizens and residents and ensures that the social impacts of PPP&P projects are understood before proceeding with the implementation, NCP said.

The kingdom has identified 16 sectors for privatization and in developing a pipeline of PPP&P opportunities that will help unlock state-owned assets and privatize selected government services to the local and international private sector.

(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Daniel Luiz)

brinda.darasha@refinitiv.com

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