The Angolan government should improve the model for supervising public procurement, especially in the area of public-private partnerships, argues Moreira Lopes, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Angola (UCAN).

Speaking to FORBES LUSOPHONE AFRICA on the sidelines of the conference on “Public-Private Partnerships, Competition and Public Procurement”, Moreira Lopes believes that although there are bodies with these competencies, the supervision system needs to be fine-tuned.

“Failure to comply with public procurement rules creates problems that can affect the process of satisfying collective needs, because in reality I have failed to comply with a rule, I have ignored a procedure and what suffers is the recipient of my action, which is the population,” he argued.

For his part, Silvino de Castro, a lawyer and also a lecturer at the Catholic University of Angola, believes that it is high time that public-private partnerships were extended in the field of infrastructure.

“In the end, we would have the satisfaction of the collective needs of the citizen and on the part of the state, which sees the investment being made by a private party. As we know, private individuals have a vocation for business. So they don’t go into business to lose, which means they come up with development mechanisms that end up being implemented,” he said.

The conference on “Public-Private Partnerships, Competition and Public Procurement” was held by the Catholic University of Angola (UCAN), in partnership with Dentons Lead – Sociedade de Advogados, RL and Sérvulo & Associados.

*Source: Forbes África Lusófona