New Delhi: With burgeoning controversies mounting over the implementation of projects on public-private partnerships (PPP), the Prime Minister’s Office has asked to formulate a draft Bill on Dispute Resolution in Public Contracts. The bill will be drafted in consultation with all stakeholders and ministries.Elaborating the prime objective in implementing the Bill, the PMO in its official statement disclosed, ““Dispute resolution in large public contracts is an area of growing concern and the Prime Minister has initiated the first steps in improving the institutional arrangement for dispute settlement.”
“There is certain dissatisfaction among private sector participants arising from the responses they receive from project authorities about the obligations of project authorities,” it added, without mentioning any particular case. However, these issues are believed to be related to falling production in a particular PPP project in the gas sector.
The PMO further said it was essential to consider an “institutional arrangement” to address the disputes to provide assurance of speedy resolution, especially for large public contracts.