Proposals for public-private partnership projects were presented

On February 28, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with a presentation on the effective organization of public-private partnership projects in the social sphere, the press service of the head of our state reports.

Major reforms are being implemented in our country to reduce the state’s presence in the economy. The Law ‘On Public-Private Partnership’ adopted in 2019 opened up wide opportunities for this.

Such partnerships also bring good results in the social sphere. In particular, thanks to the opening of private kindergartens for 1.2 million places, preschool education coverage has reached 77 percent. Within the framework of 57 projects in the field of higher education, 29 thousand students have been provided with places in dormitories. In the medical field, the private sector occupies a significant share in dentistry, otolaryngology, laboratory and other services.

Despite the successes achieved, there remains high demand and significant reserves for development in this area. During the presentation, proposals for expanding public-private partnerships in medicine, education, culture and sports were considered.

Measures have been identified to implement 5 projects worth $1.2 billion in healthcare, 6 projects worth $745 million in preschool and school education, and projects worth $100 million in higher education jointly with the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other partners.

In particular, it is planned to build modern multidisciplinary clinics in Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara, Andijan and Samarkand. It is planned to transfer the services of central regional polyclinics not related to medical activities to the private sector.

The issues of involving the private sector in certain types of activities in the fields of culture and sports were also considered. Currently, 43 cultural centers have already been transferred to private management, and there is an opportunity to transfer another 127 facilities.

The need to similarly renovate unused swimming pools, gyms and playgrounds with the expansion of health services was emphasized. To this end, a proposal was put forward to simplify the procedure for transferring cultural and sports facilities to private partners.

The head of state gave instructions to the ministries of social services and khokimiyats to approve and implement “road maps” for specific projects and to accelerate public-private partnership projects.