What will the Technical Secretariat for Public-Private Partnerships do? Opinions divided in the business sector regarding its usefulness

Coordinate the execution of policies related to investments and improve the legal framework for those are some of the 18 functions of the Technical Secretariat of Public-Private Associations and Delegated Management, created last Friday by Executive Decree 260 by President Guillermo Lasso.

And that recently, Roberto Salas, who previously served as a director, was appointed as secretary, also via Decree 266. to honor of the Government on investment issues and public-private partnerships.

This agency, attached to the Presidency of the Republic, has the objective of coordinating and articulating inter-institutional actions to attend, facilitate, specify and maintain private investments, associated with the generation of infrastructure and provision of public services.

Roberto Salas assumed the Technical Secretariat of Public-Private Associations

Businessmen and former ministers have divided views on this entity. Some agree with creation and others believe that it is bureaucracy.

Patricio Alarcón, businessman and former president of the Quito Chamber of Commerce (CCQ)He thinks that these powers could be carried out by other entities linked to foreign trade.

“With such a number of ministries, the Comex (Foreign Trade Committee), the Vice Ministry of Industries, having such a large amount of bureaucracy… I do not think that it is necessary to create more entities, more secretariats but to reduce them. Someone from the Ministry (of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries) could take charge of the alliances … I do not think it is appropriate to create a single more job in this Government because the General State Proforma remains around $ 32,000 million and it is very high if we compare it with the rest of the region ”, he comments.

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Nevertheless, Miguel Ángel González, president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce (CCG), considers that an entity that specializes in attracting investment is necessary.

“The important thing is that it gives results. That it is not just a new bureaucracy, as in previous governments that created similar bodies, but without results ”, he points out.

Juan Carlos Cassinelli, former Minister of Foreign TradeHe also sees the new Secretariat as suitable and believes that being attached to the Presidency gives it another level.

“They give it a high level because it is a secretariat attached to the Presidency. When we handled (under Rafael Correa’s government) investments it was ProEcuador and it didn’t have that level. And that level is transcendental when it comes to dealing, above all, internationally or interministerially with an issue to be resolved. It seems to me appropriate that (the technical secretary) be a person with a good profile, who understands his role as an inter-ministerial, inter-institutional, public-private articulator to carry it out, because if he is not like that and is delegated to a ministry, that will fall into the hands of an undersecretary or a third person, but in addition to a ministry that already has a direction in what it has to do ”, he explains.

This Secretariat will have between 30 and 35 people and the capacity to structure projects and prioritize them, Salas said in an interview with this newspaper.

In addition, Salas will be in charge of presiding over the Inter-Institutional Committee of Public-Private Associations and will act as counterpart and interlocutor and delegate of the President of the Republic.

With this entity the National Registry of Public-Private Partnership Projects and the guidelines and guidelines for the application of the benefits provided in the Organic Law of Incentives for Public-Private Partnerships will be proposed.

Alarcón aspires that, through the Secretariat, adequate legal certainty be achieved so that there are more interested in investing and that they recover that capital.

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Trust is essential, says Cassinelli, but he considers that it is also essential to identify from the public what is required and what is a priority to generate development “because the private is seeing a business, the public is a win and win.”

The now technical secretary participated on November 18 in the Ecuador Open for Business event, where a portfolio with at least 25 investment projects in the country was promoted to national and foreign entrepreneurs.

This portfolio included works in the areas of energy, hydrocarbons, infrastructure, real estate, mining, telecommunications, environment, culture, sports and health for a total of $ 30,833 million. Salas highlighted the participation of stakeholders from banking and investment funds.

Functions and powers of the Technical Secretariat:

1. Coordinate the implementation of policies related to investments made through delegated management, including public-private partnerships, taking into consideration the previous experiences of the country, for this purpose it may take into account the best international practices.
2. Managing and contracting the support and technical assistance of international organizations for this purpose may be the executor of programs or projects financed by multilateral organizations within the scope of their competences.
3. Prepare the information that allows national planning in the field of public-private partnerships and delegated management.
4. Support in the strengthening and development of capacities in the delegated entities of the Executive Function in matters of delegated management.
5. Articulate solutions that allow resolving potential controversies between public entities; as well as potential controversies between the State and private managers.
6. Establish management indicators and goals within the scope of their powers for the delegating entities that will be periodically evaluated and brought to the attention of the President of the Republic.
7. Coordinate the formation of technical tables in case of requiring inter-institutional participation to promote management projects delegated to a public-private association.
8. Promote the participation of the financial sector, national and international, in the financial structuring of projects.
9. Coordinate with the General Legal Secretariat of the Presidency the updating and improvement of the specific legal and regulatory framework for investments in matters of delegated management, including public-private partnerships.
10. Advise and report to the President of the Republic in matters of delegated management investment, including public-private partnerships.
11. Coordinate and articulate with the delegating and governing entities a Pluriannual Strategic Plan for Public-Private Associations and Delegated Management for consideration and approval by the President of the Republic.
12. Require information that it deems necessary for the fulfillment of its powers to the delegating entities of the central public administration.
13. Propose for approval of the Interinstitutional Committee of Public Private Associations, the applicable criteria for the granting of tax benefits to which the Committee will adjust for approval, in addition to requiring the report related to the fiscal impact that will be issued by the governing body of the public finances, in accordance with their powers.
14. Propose the guidelines and guidelines for the application of the benefits provided in the Organic Law of Incentives for Public-Private Associations.
15. Prepare and present for the approval of the Inter-Institutional Committee of Public-Private Associations the technical guides necessary to execute the previous processes and the integral cycle of the projects during the term of their approval.
16. Create and manage the National Registry of Public-Private Partnership Projects (APP Registry), maintain public, online and at the disposal of all interested parties, the information and documentation on all public projects that are developed under the public-private partnership modality in the country.
17. Consolidate the information of the institutions in charge of the execution of public-private partnership projects and delegated management that have been approved by the Inter-Institutional Committee of Public-Private Partnerships, and of those that through other mechanisms incorporate the participation of the private sector and include them in the PPP Project Program in charge of the Central Public Administration and its modifications.
18. Issue, within the scope of its powers, the reports related to the final business case and its bankability for the knowledge and decision of the Inter-Institutional Committee of Public-Private Associations.

Duties of the Technical Secretary:

• Preside over the Interinstitutional Committee of Public-Private Associations.
• To ensure the strengthening of the competences of the Technical Secretariat under its charge and the fulfillment of its attributions.
• Summon the members of the Inter-Institutional Committee of Public-Private Associations.
• Act as a counterpart and interlocutor and as a delegate of the President of the Republic, when so designated, in front of private managers and / or concessionaires to guide and promote, in coordination with the respective public institutions on the projects, needs and investment opportunities in the country in terms of public-private partnerships and delegated management. (I)