A value of more than $5 billion has been given to the investment projects that the Ortega administration intends to carry out through public, private and investment partnership deals.
Among the projects proposed by the Nicaraguan government and open to funding proposals are:
Problems related to lack of infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports could be solved if the bill on public-private partnerships being prepared by the government and the private sector is successful.
The Draft Law on Public Private Partnerships to be presented in the coming days by President Ortega was prepared in conjunction with private sector representatives, explained the president's economic adviser, Bayardo Arce.
Out of a portfolio of seven infrastructure projects estimated at $1.3 billion and which are essential to the economic development of Guatemala, only one is just beginning to see the light.
The project to build the State Administrative Center, estimated at $200 million, is the only one that has started to be implemented since the National Agency for Partnerships for Economic Infrastructure Development (ANADIE) was created in 2013.
President Martinelli has announced that bill no. 349, that would set up a framework for enabling public-private partnerships (PPPs), will be sent back for further discussion.
The announcement was viewed positively by hospital leaders who stopped work on 20 October in protest at the proposed law.
Panama's medical associations oppose the bill, saying that its effect will be to privatize the country's health services, since the proposal includes, "concessions for hospitals to be built, as well as roads, ports and drinking and waste water management systems".
In Panama, medical professionals, who have now been on strike for a week, have opposed the project, forcing the legislative process to be suspended, until a consensus can be reached.
The main concept of the bill is that, in contrast to the traditional scheme, where companies are simply contracted by the State for the construction or development of public works, under the adoption of the PPP regime, the private sector would play a greater role in projects, funding the work and then receiving payment for the provision of services, on long-term contracts.