The partnership between the public and private sectors constitutes one of the most significant legal and economic mechanisms aimed at enabling the State to implement infrastructure and public service projects with greater efficiency and a lighter financial burden on the public budget.
In light of the accelerating economic developments and the growing social demand for public services, it has become necessary to explore new contractual models that allow for the utilization of the private sector’s capabilities in financing, management, and operation, without compromising the supervisory and regulatory role of the country in ensuring the public interest.
Egypt has adopted this approach through the promulgation of the Public Private Partnerships Law No. 67 of 2010 “The PPP Law” Regulating the Participation of the Private Sector in infrastructure projects, public utilities, and services. This law established the first legislative and institutional framework governing partnership contracts, defining their scope, the procedures for their offering, the rules governing their conclusion, and the competent authorities responsible for their implementation and oversight.
Prior to the enactment of this law, the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) was unfamiliar to the Egyptian legal system. The country relied on traditional models for executing public projects, such as Direct Administrative Contracts, Concession Agreements, or Public Works Contracts.
As the need to develop public utilities increased, a modern legal framework became necessary to overcome the limitations of these traditional systems and to allow private sector participation in the financing, construction, operation, and maintenance.
Accordingly, Law No. 67 of 2010 and its Executive Regulations issued by Prime Ministerial Decree click here No. 238 of 2011 were promulgated to establish a new, flexible contractual system responsive to the requirements of economic development.
The Egyptian legislator was keen to provide a precise definition of the concept of partnership. The law defines the PPP system as every contract concluded between an administrative authority and a private legal entity, under which the latter undertakes the financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of an infrastructure or public utility project for a specified period, provided that ownership of the project reverts to the State at the end of the contract term.