After a full day of discussion, the Sarajevo Canton Assembly passed today the new cantonal Law on Public-Private Partnership.
As CS Minister of Economy Zlatko Mijatović pointed out in his introductory speech, since 2011, when the CS Public-Private Partnership Law (PPP) was first adopted, there was no concluded contract based on that model, which clearly indicated the need to this area is completely re-standardized in order to remove the deficiencies observed in practice.
Speaking about the legal improvement, Minister Mijatović highlighted the most important novelties that the new law prescribes. Namely, as he emphasized, the possibility of signing the so-called status partnership, as a model in which the public partner enters the ownership structure of the private partner, which was assessed as very risky and unpopular. Also, unlike before, the deadline for concluding the PPP contract is now prescribed.
“The biggest change compared to the old law concerns the work, competences and composition of the PPP commission. Now the model for the formation of that commission, how it works, what it decides on, is now decisively prescribed. It will no longer be a mandated government commission, but it will be an ad hoc commission that will be formed by the municipal council, the City Council and the Government of CS, in order to respond as best as possible to needs and potential projects. Instead of the previous six by-laws, the adoption of only two such acts is now foreseen: the decree that will be passed by the Government of CS on the criteria for awarding of contracts and regulations issued by the Minister of Economy on the planning of potential projects and the establishment of keeping a register of contracts. The supervision over the execution of contracts and the supervision over the implementation of this law is better standardized. Offense provisions covered a much wider range of possible contract violations. The process of drafting is prescribed and described in more detail projects and the content of the justification study. The resolution of the complaints of the contractual parties is decisively defined,” said Minister Mijatović.
For the first time, the risks for certain project stages have been prescribed, and it has been precisely prescribed who provides financial resources for law enforcement. A new external audit institute was introduced, which is conducted every three years. The choice of a consultant in the process of public-private contracting, his choice, as well as his responsibilities, was also mentioned as a novelty.
In the discussion on the draft law, the position of numerous representatives dominated that the Assembly, as the highest legislative body of the Canton of Sarajevo and the founder of numerous public institutions, companies, real estate and the like, was exempted from the procedures and decisions on concluding a contract according to this model, which they considered to be the biggest shortcoming of the offered documents.
Bearing this in mind, the CS Government and parliamentary representatives accepted the amendment in the proposed Bill, and adopted the DF representative’s amendment on this issue, so that the prior consent of the CS Assembly will be required to enter into a PPP contract.
