El Salvador: Deputies approve the Special Law for the Acquisition and Adjudication of Public Works

Press release from the National Assembly

This is an automated translation of the original press release issued in Spanish

The new Legislative Assembly approved the creation of the Special Law for the Contracting of Public Works with Included Financing, which seeks to establish regulations to comply with the requirements and conditions that have as their purpose the awarding, contracting and execution of construction projects without prejudice to the existing legal regulations that regulate these processes.

The legislators pointed out that the regulation opens a new way of financing for the execution of works through an innovative process of acquisition and adjudication of projects in favor of the population, but safeguarding the interests of the State.

The contracting modality with financing included seeks to promote an orderly and sustained growth of the economy, create new sources of work and development to increase the national patrimony and ensure the well-being of the population, through the execution of necessary and innovative works, with the participation of the private sector.

The bill establishes that the evaluation procedure will be in charge of a multidisciplinary technical commission created and appointed by the highest authority of the Ministry of Public Works. In addition, the Ministry of Finance will be in charge of analyzing the financing offers made by the participants with the aim of ensuring the interests of the State.

The regulations will be applied to the construction of bridges, roads, ports, airports, dams, water supplies, drains and railway networks.

The representative of Nuevas Ideas, William Soriano, explained that the law will allow national or foreign financial entities, as well as private corporations or contractors, to make offers for the financing and execution of public works.

“There is so much public work that is being carried out in the country that we must create the legal frameworks to expedite the processes. Our job is to contribute to the transformation of El Salvador and generate governance for its development," said the deputy.