Commercial exploration of Cape Verde’s ports may be handed over to private management under the terms of a change in legislation agreed by parliament so that the government can change the legal framework for port management, the Cape Verdean press reported.

The legislative authorisation to change the legal framework for the country’s ports, which was approved in 2010, is valid for four months and will allow the state port company Empresa Nacional de Administração dos Portos (Enapor) to sub-contract management of the ports to private companies.

The Minister for Infrastructure and the Economy, Sara Lopes, said that port sub-contractors could also be involved in other businesses, and would only be required to have knowledge of the marine sector to use the country’s ports and make deals with other ports around the world.

The future law is also expected to outline port assets in the public domain and to clarify the responsibilities of the public agents involved in the marine sector, specifically the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport and the Marine Economy, the Maritime and Port Institute and Enapor. (macauhub)