House, Senate panels agree over changes to law on public-private partnership

AMMAN — The Lower House Investment Committee on Tuesday agreed with the Senate’s amendments to the draft public-private partnership law.

At a meeting between the House panel and the Senate’s Finance Committee, the two sides agreed to cancel a change introduced by deputies to the bill stipulating that the government should obtain Parliament’s approval on any contract it signs with the private sector.

“Such a prerequisite will slow down investments,” said Deputy Abdullah Khawaldeh (Jerash, 1st District), who heads the Lower House’s Investment Committee.

Deputies had endorsed the amendment, proposed by MP Khalil Atiyeh (Amman, 1st District), at a meeting during Parliament’s last extraordinary session. 

Senators opposed the change, arguing that it would delay public-private partnerships and have a negative impact on “this promising sector”.

The two committees agreed to return to the original version of a provision on the extension of deals between the private and public sectors.

The article allows the extension of any public-private sector agreement by 35 years. The committees scrapped the MPs’ amendment that set 15 years as the limit for extensions.

The two panels also agreed to reject a provision that guarantees the government’s right in profits if they exceed the agreed-upon levels in the contracts.

Through this agreement, the Upper and Lower Houses showed how much they are concerned with the economic performance of the nation, as endorsing the bill will encourage investments and create more jobs for Jordanians, Khawaldeh said at the conclusion of the joint meeting.

The new version of the bill will be referred to the Lower House to approve the changes before it is sent back to the Senate for endorsement. 

The draft then has to be ratified by Royal Decree and published in the Official Gazette to go into effect.