By KUNA
Kuwait : A number of National Assembly MPs and businessmen underscored here on Sunday that having the B.O.T law come late is better than not coming at all.
At the two-day seventh conference on the role of the private sector in development according to the BOT system, they agreed that despite the negatives, which were included in articles of the law that was approved by the National Assembly and published in the official gazette late last month, however, its endorsement forms a positive point that stresses cooperation of the legislature and executive branches.
MP Ahmad Al-Mulaifi wondered about what would happen after approval of the law , pointing out that “the ball is now in the court of the government”, whose bodies including the Finance Ministry must adopt the procedural measures required for the law to go into effect.
He called on the Finance Minister in his executive capacity to speed up the formation of the technical body and prepare its bylaws, explaining that the six-month period set by the law is the maximum period necessary for the adoption of such procedural steps.
He said that the government at this stage and after the passing of the bill, must have a clear road map to guide the private sector during the coming stage.
He added that the government ought to identify the B.O.T projects and expiry date of their operations and then the mechanism to be put forward by the new management of the private sector as stated by the law.
For his part, MP Marzouq Al-Ghanim said that it would be impossible to transform Kuwait into a commercial and financial centre without a set of legal frameworks and legislations that could determine the relationship between the various concerned parties.
He pointed out that Adoption of the B.O.T l is only part of a series of laws that have already been adopted or are in the process of being recognized that form a system for economic reform.
He emphasized that this reform is the only way to cure most of Kuwait’s problems in education, health and others.
For his part, Deputy Chairman of Al-Kharafi Construction Group Luay Al-Kharafi that everybody believes that the current stage is the stage of the private sector, and the role of government or the public sector must now retreat to pave the way for the private sector.