Risk Management in Transport PPP Projects
In the Islamic Countries
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contract may be amended, as well as the procedures to be followed if necessary. By law, PPP
contract amendments may concern the scope of the operator's business or contractual
obligations, the financial conditions and the duration of the PPP contract.
Extensions of the contract duration can be granted only on the grounds of specific reasons, such
as public interest, late completion or interruption of services due to unforeseen events, or for
carrying out new works not included in the initial contract (upon request of the contracting
authority). The duration of the extension shall be limited to the time necessary for restoring the
financial balance of the PPP contract and preserve the continuity of the services provided.
Contract renegotiations are performed by the contracting authority with the support of CNP-
PPP and are subject to the same approval process of the original contract.
5.2.7. End of contract
Contract return
According to PPP legislation at the end of the concession period, the infrastructure shall be
returned to the procuring authority in optimal conditions under both the infrastructural and
functional standpoints. Concession periods may vary according to the financial performance of
the project. The maximum duration of PPP contracts is not explicitly set by law.
In Côte d’Ivoire, no specific problems were mentioned with reference to the contract return
phase in the transport sector PPPs. However, it shall be noted that there are limited cases of BOT
initiatives that reached the end of the concession period, given that projects in the transport
sector are relatively recent.
Contract termination is regulated in the legislative framework. Furthermore, the parties have
the right to terminate the PPP contract by mutual agreement. The contracting parties shall
provide for indemnification provisions.
Box 18 Long Term Partnerships: SITARAIL
The international railway Abidjan - Ouagadougou (Côte d’Ivoire/Burkina Faso) is a single-track
not-electrified line, with narrow gauge (1 m), primarily used for freight traffic to/from the Port
of Abidjan. The rail concession to the private operator Sitarail is a long-lasting operation that was
initiated back in 1995. At that time, this was the first case of PPP in the rail sector in Sub-Saharan
Africa, as before the only examples of private involvement in rail were cases of railways built and
operated by private companies for their exclusive purposes - usually linked to mineral extraction
activities. The first concession period was set to 35 years, but the rail operations were effectively
stopped in the first decade of 2000s due to instabilities. A revised concession was agreed and
signed in 2017 for the rehabilitation and operation the Abidjan–Ouagadougou–Kaya railway line
(Rehabilitate – Operate – Transfer type of PPP scheme), extending the concession time for
another 30-years period. The two schemes are illustrated below.