Public Private Partnerships Act, 2015.

This Act concerns Public Private Partnership (PPP) and relative agreements between a contracting authority (Ministry, department of Government or any other body established by Government and mandated to carry out a public function) and a private party. This Act shall apply to all public private partnerships and in particular shall apply to the design, construction, maintenance and operation of infrastructure or services including water management facilities, including dams and water storages, water supply and distribution systems, irrigation and drainage systems and sanitation, sewerage and waste management systems and agricultural processing industries. The Act sets out principles to govern the implementation of PPP's, provides with respect to various procedures, and establishes the Public Private Partnerships Committee, the Public Private Partnerships Unit and a Project Development Facilitation Fund. The functions of the Committee include, among other things: (a) to ensure that each project agreement is consistent with the provisions of this Act; (b) to formulate policy on public private partnerships; (c) to ensure that all projects are consistent with the national priorities specified in the Public Private Partnerships Framework Policy.
A contracting authority shall identify, appraise, develop, procure and monitor a public private partnership in accordance with this Act and appoint an accounting officer. The accounting officer shall sign an agreement on behalf of the contracting authority, with the private party and take custody of a project agreement made under this Act and monitor compliance with the terms and conditions of the agreement. There shall be for each project a project officer who shall- (a) manage the procurement and implementation of a project; (b) monitor the performance of the private party in the management and execution of a project; and (c) perform any other functions as may be assigned by the accounting officer. A contracting authority that intends to enter into a public private partnership arrangement with a private party shall also establish a PPP project team. The Act also provides with respect to PPP procurement rules and methods. Various types of public private partnership agreements are specified. Any disputes between a contracting authority and the private party shall be settled through the dispute settlement mechanisms agreed upon by the parties in the public private partnership agreement or in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.