Saudi Arabia : Saudi Arabia’s much-anticipated plans to bring in a private-public partnership (PPP) law will “make a difference” to the investor appeal of the Kingdom, say lawyers in the country.
While Saudi Arabia has completed a number of infrastructure projects using a PPP structure — such as the Madinah Airport scheme in 2012 — the country still lacks specific regulations to govern such developments.
“The law will regulate for the first time the role of the private sector in terms of partnering with the public sector,” said Najem Al-Zaid, one of the founding partners of Riyadh-based ZS&R law firm.
“I’m optimistic and the signal we see from the Saudi government is that it is serious about introducing a transparent regime for FDI in general,” he said.
“If the hunger and appetite from the investor is there, the law will come inevitably down the line,” said Turki Alsheikh, a lawyer at ZS&R.
The long-awaited PPP legislation is part of a wider push by Saudi Arabia to encourage more private participation in the economy as part of its Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program.
“There’s a quantum shift going on here … which has to excite everybody. We are looking at the private sector in a way that few of the states in the GCC have. The trend as we see it is a new and vibrant economy in Saudi Arabia, and that dynamism will permeate through all sectors,” said Rahail Ali, global head of Islamic finance and managing partner at Hogan Lovells in Dubai.
