PPP key to infrastructure gap

PRIVATE Public Partnership (PPP) is key to closing Africa’s infrastructure gap, St Catherine’s College Cambridge Faculty (Professor Level) in Management Practice, Judge Business School Simon Taylor has said.

Dr Taylor said infrastructure was a key developer which led to other development in any country, hence the need to pursue it in a sustainable manner.

He was speaking at the PPP forum organized by price waterhouse coopers (PWC) in lusaka yesterday,

“Private public partnership is the way of mobilising funding for a range of projects particularly infrastructure which tends to be a capital intensive and requires a lot of funding for longer period of time,” he said.

Dr Taylor said in many counties, Governments did not have financial capacity to carry out infrastructure development projects on their own.

He said the PPP concept, therefore, could bring private funding even from organisations that such the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to effectively build more infrastructure capacity investments.

Dr Taylor however said the challenge was to make a project which achieved the goal of the Government while providing an acceptable and reasonable rate of return for private investors.

He said other challenges that PPP faced in many counties was high risk expropriation for both parties and political risk.

Meanwhile, IFC investment officer Christopher OLobo said Zambian Government should start dialogue with the private sector because opportunities were high.