Paraguay passes P3 law

The Promotion of Public Infrastructure Investment, a bill that is better known as the Public-Private Partnership Project, was passed into law when Paraguay’s lower chamber approved a bill drafted and previously approved by the country’s Senate on September 26.

“It is a brilliant opportunity to fill the gap – of at least 10 years – in infrastructure investment that has plagued the country,” José María Ibañez, a deputy of the National Republican Association, also known as the Colorado Party, said in a statement issued by the House of Deputies, on October 28.

He emphasised that public-private partnerships are not equivalent to privatisation and that the law provides for controls such as reporting to the Comptroller General and to Congress, as well as the ability to impose sanctions for breach of contractual obligations.

In a separate statement, Juan Bartolome Ramirez of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) referred to a 30-year backlog of investment that the country’s national budget cannot remedy.

“This will not happen. It’s impossible to pretend that we will grow by relying on state funds,” he said.

“This project will bring about the infrastructure Paraguay’s people need,” he added.