In a bid to drawing foreign and private investments in service-oriented sectors, parliament today passed the Public Private Partnership Bill 2015.

The bill was passed through a voice vote, rejecting the amendment motions moved by opposition and independent lawmakers.

Matia Chowdhury placed the bill before the House with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

According to the bill, the government will set up a board named Public Private Partnership Kartripakkha. The body will be a neutral and independent one keeping Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the chairman of the Board of Governors and the finance minister as vice-chairman.

The bill keeps a provision of holding board of governors' meeting at least six times a year.

The head office of the PPP Kartripakkha will be in Dhaka while the PPP authority will be able to set up its branch offices anywhere in the country and abroad for its smooth operation while policies and guidelines of the body will be formulated by its authority.

The PPP authority can take any project apart from the Annual Development Programmes and implement that project through PPP.

Currently a total of 42 projects are being implemented under the PPP.