The president of the law firm Morais Leitão, who participated this Thursday in Luanda in a conference on infrastructures, stated that Angola has a "very ambitious" project to develop large-scale infrastructures, which despite having many challenges, it also has opportunities and can learn from past experiences in other countries.
The lawyer cited the example of Portugal which, in the 80s and 90s, also launched an ambitious road, railway and energy and water infrastructure plan with PPPs that are now reaching the end of their life, allowing us to reflect on "what went right and what went wrong", which benefits Angola in the sense of assuming less risk for the public sector in managing these contracts.
"It seems to me that there is some prejudice against PPPs and investment plans based on 'project finance', because what we see today is that they were very important in making up for the lack of resources to carry out this type of work, of this size", said Nuno Galvão Teles on the sidelines of the conference.
He also noted that "it is difficult" to use the State Budget to carry out such heavy works that have a high cost for taxpayers.
"What these projects allow is to be financed by private parties and countries now have a much greater ambition than if they were only financed by the public treasury", said the lawyer, highlighting that, in Portugal, "the vast majority of projects were carried out very good".
Financial, operational and legal risks can be associated with contracts of this type, he highlighted, highlighting the importance of the State having the capacity to follow and monitor the development of operations "so that it is aware that what was agreed with the concessionaires is gone do", in terms of quality of service and investment.
"All the obligations that were assumed have to be implemented and it is not always easy", he admitted.
The conference entitled "Developing Angola with infrastructure", organized by Morais Leitão/ALC Advogados addressed several issues, such as project financing and concession contracts, and a status report was presented on ongoing projects in the area of transport and their impact on economy.
Irina Neves Ferreira, partner at ALC Advogados e Morais Leitão, focused on the evolution of risk perception in Angola, welcoming the reforms and legislative changes made to improve the business environment in Angola, enabling the entry of the country's private sector.
"[Angola] does not have a closed business environment and there are no restrictions on the entry of individuals into the country. It is a prejudice that needs to be overcome", she highlighted.
She also considered that the lessons learned in other countries are a benefit for Angola, which can analyze various models of concession contracts, clauses that caused greater imbalance between the State and the private sector, and disputes that arose.
"It's an advantage to see what others have done and that we don't want to repeat", she highlighted.
