Addressing the Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Public - Private Partnership (PPP) Contracts

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the health and economy of the world. The pandemic has also frustrated the execution of public-private partnership (PPP) projects across the world, with economic and legal consequences for contracting parties. The impacts of the pandemic have, and may continue to, result in uncertainties and even project failures. PPPs are underpinned by long term contracts which should ordinarily determine the rights, obligations and remedies arising out of the impact of the pandemic. However, the legal outcomes are never always certain or determinable and might not augur well for any of the parties. This article examines legal and contractual tools for managing uncertainties and risks arising from the pandemic. It suggests that, as much as possible, parties should rely on extra-contractual arrangements to resolve the issues that are likely to arise out of the pandemic. This article discusses the possible legal outcomes of the pandemic on PPP arrangements and suggests creative ways of mitigating its impacts.

Using Principal–Steward Contracting and Scenario Planning to Manage Megaprojects

Performance on megaprojects is dismal. Megaprojects are complex, but people use constructs inappropriate in complex situations for their management, particularly contractual arrangements based on principal–agent governance and conventional project management, which is good at solving puzzles, but not at enlightening mysteries. I review current thinking. Principal–steward contracting is a liberal governance structure required in complex situations. Conventional project management emphasizes control at the expense of innovation. In cases of high uncertainty, innovation is required as unexpected events occur. Scenario planning is offered as a way of approaching the management of complex megaprojects, to construct narratives, and to identify alternative outcomes.

Transacting Politics in the Maratha Empire: An Agreement between Friends, 1795

Diplomacy was a principal site of linguistic and cultural exchange in the early modern Persianate world. Focusing on the karārnāmā or agreement, this paper explores how a repertoire of Marathi and Persian documentary genres, binding formulae, and graphic procedures enabled legal, commercial, and diplomatic transactions in eighteenth-century western India. The exchange of written agreements facilitated interstate relations as well as profit-sharing contractual arrangements between individuals. Despite their centrality to interactions between European and South Asian polities, these instruments met with limited success in establishing rights to property under the legal regime of the East India Company-state and instead acquired new functions in colonial revenue administration.

Determining the causes, prevention and elimination of unstable modes of gas turbochargers of marine diesels

Annotation – With commissioning of the “Socofl Star” ship’s series, negative occurrences relative to surging of the Main Engine (ME) «Hanshin Diesel» 6LF46 turbochargers (TC) VTR 401-2. To elimination of a surging, it was necessary reduce loading of ME to the safe level. This action caused the ship’s speed to fall from 11 – 10 to 4 knots which resulted in worsening of the ship’s maneuverability characteristics and lead to the failure to provide the ship’s service speed stipulated in the contractual arrangements. Existence of this problem instigated the shipowner to charge us as experts with the mission of carrying out appropriate investigations and working out recommendations as to how to prevent and eliminate surging of TC. This task was solved on the m/v “Socofl Star”. Based on results the ME shop test and trial test of the vessel and also the saved-up data of work of ME in various conditions of swimming, the analysis of the causes of a surge of the TC was made. It is established that small values of safety factor of stability of the compressor of TC on a surging – KCT which are not allowing to ensure effective functioning of TC on the main modes of loading of ME are its reason. For increase in area of steady work of TC it is necessary to reduce the hydraulic resistance of components of the Air-Gas Path (AGP) of the ME which can be realized by changes in a design of units of air supply and gas exchange or reduction of productivity and extent of increase in pressure of air in the compressor of TC. Under operating conditions vessels an optimal solution an objective is removal of a part of blowing-off air after compressor of the TC. The air can be discharged into the flue gas header after the waste heat recovery boiler or directly into the atmosphere. This allowed the shipowner not to make constructive changes to the components of the AGP of ME and TC. The description of the operated unloading device controlled remotely on removal of air which ensures effective functioning of TC and ME that is confirmed by results of natural tests and the subsequent operating experience of vessels of the “Socofl Star” series is provided.

Regulation of Natural Resources Located in Indigenous Communities Territory under the Principles of Consultation and Free, Prior-Informed Consent: Perspectives in Selected Countries

Natural resources have long been said to be under the sovereign ownership of the states in whose borders they are found. Sovereignty grants such a state not only the ownership but also the power to regulate their access and use. States’ inability to convert the resources into tangible socio-economic development has witnessed massive contractual agreements with multinational companies to harness the same. Multinational companies and state contractual arrangements seem to have ignored other potential stakeholders like communities dependent on natural resources for their survival. Consequently, communities such as those of indigenous peoples who depend on available natural resources like rivers, lakes, forests and other ecological resources are victimised in the state-multinational contractual arrangements and implementation. Internationally, principles such as consultation and free and prior-informed consent seem to regulate access and use of resources located in indigenous communities. This article shows how such principles guarantee the indigenous communities their existence in cases of large-scale development in their territory.

Contracts and Firms' Inflation Expectations

We use novel survey data to study firms’ inventory contracts. We document facts about the usage of purchase and sale contracts. We find that firms purchase and sell inventory through three contractual arrangements: fixed price and quantity, fixed price only, and fixed quantity only. The former holds the largest share of contracts. The average duration of purchase contracts is not very different from the average duration of sale contracts. We then find that the upward bias in inflation expectations is a feature of firms that do not purchase or sell largely through contracts. Our findings are useful in the calibration of sticky price models.

Liquidity Provision and Co-insurance in Bank Syndicates

We study the capacity of the banking system to provide liquidity to the corporate sector in times of stress and how changes in this capacity affect corporate liquidity management. We show that the contractual arrangements among banks in loan syndicates co-insure liquidity risks of credit line drawdowns and generate a network of interbank exposures. We develop a simple model and simulate the liquidity and insurance capacity of the banking network. We find that the liquidity capacity of large banks has significantly increased following the introduction of liquidity regulation, and that the liquidity co-insurance function in loan syndicates is economically important. We also find that borrowers with higher reliance on credit lines in their liquidity management have become more likely to obtain credit lines from syndicates with higher liquidity. The assortative matching on liquidity characteristics has strengthened the role of banks as liquidity providers to the corporate sector.

Critical Legal issues in the Nigerian Gas to Power Contractual Arrangements

The natural gas and power sectors are pivotal sectors of the Nigerian economy with reflective effect on its gross domestic product. The Federal Government in its gas revolution agenda is taking giant strides to reposition the sector to more adequately harness its abundant natural gas resources and ensure availability of natural gas to the domestic market with the gas supply to the power sector being regulated to build base load volumes to ensure stable electricity supply to its citizens. The synergic connection of the gas and power sectors can only validly exist upon legitimate contractual arrangements such as the gas sale and purchase agreement, the gas transport agreement and the gas sale aggregation agreement which is unique to Nigerian domestic gas industry. Out of these arrangements flow pertinent legal issues which define clearly the relations between the parties. This paper therefore throws more light on some of these salient issues which arise pursuant to the respective agreements. It is hoped that this discourse would guide and further facilitate a deeper understanding of these critical terms.

Mitigating Disputes and Managing Legal Issues in the Era of Building Information Modelling

Construction disputes are inevitable. They often arise between project stakeholders for numerous reasons and to resolve them, construction professionals adopt various dispute resolution methodologies. This study aims to identify the role of building information modelling (BIM) in mitigating such disputes and addresses the legal barriers faced by the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry while adopting BIM. The study reveals that disputes can be mitigated and managed efficiently with the intervention of BIM, as BIM offers various designing, planning, estimating, collaborating and controlling features. The benefits of BIM are impressive and exceptional; however, it comes with some legal issues that are first clarified and addressed with the support of a literature review and later validated through interviews with industry professionals. Dispute resolution, contractual arrangements, design responsibility, intellectual property (IP) rights and a lack of standardisation are identified as substantial concerns when adopting BIM. Thus, a strategy is proposed to manage these legal issues that entail the adoption of the appropriate contract suite, the formation of a common data environment (CDE) and the establishment of a firm BIM execution plan (BEP). Workshops, training sessions and seminars are also recommended to educate the industry with BIM features as it brings about the second revolution in the AEC industry.

Employment, Employability, and Competencies of the Bachelor of Secondary Education Graduates

Tracing graduates has become an imperative for higher education institutions much more during the pandemic. This tracer determined the employment and employability status of the 2019 BSE graduates and identified the competencies they adequately acquired and deemed vital for work. It used descriptive design, and data were collected from the 103 graduates through a Google form with open and closed-ended questions administered between November and December 2020. Results revealed that most of the graduates had been employed in teaching and teaching-related jobs but mostly in contractual arrangements within the first and second six months after graduation. Many had their first jobs with meager salaries from the private sector. Communication, pedagogy, information communication technology, time management, and flexibility were the top competencies they adequately acquired and were beneficial in work. The study concluded that these graduates had acquired 21st-century skills in their respective degree programs. These results have corresponding implications for future research in confirming the most employable skills in secondary teaching. As recommended, classroom instruction might emphasize the development of these skills. Eventually, these become the competitive advantage and employability capitals of future graduates. Administering the licensure examination and the release of its results can be done within the first three months after graduation to lessen the cost of waiting.