Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are an important way to fill investment gaps that arise due to lack of enough resources to finance public projects especially in developing countries.
According to East African Business Week, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana, the Rwanda Minister of State in charge of Economic Planning was recently speaking during a three-day working trip to South Korea where he attended the Korea-Africa Forum for Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Ministerial Conference.
“One of the objectives of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 is to develop a private sector led economy. It is in this context that Rwanda has done significant reforms to improve its business environment and to ease doing business for the private sector alone or in partnership with the government,” he said.
Some of the areas suitable for PPP investment model in Rwanda include the Nyabarongo II Hydropower generation, Mutobo water supply project, Rwanda International Trade Fairs and Exhibition Park, Muvumba Multipurpose dam among others.
According to a press release, the 2016 KOAFEC Ministerial Conference focused on ‘Transforming Africa’s Agriculture through Industrialization and Inclusive Finance’, as well PPPs.
Discussing how PPPs can fast-track development, Ndagijimana said most public investments are usually costly and may not be financially viable to attract the private sector. This then requires the government to get involved.
He added however, even when the government has resources, it may lack technical capacity to execute and operate them efficiently.
Currently several projects are being implemented under the PPPs arrangement in ICT, energy, water, transport and agro-processing sectors.
According to the organisers, KOAFEC has made significant progress in African countries in areas of human resource development, information communication technology (ICT), agriculture, infrastructure, green growth partnership and knowledge sharing on Korea’s economic development experiences.
The KOAFEC Ministerial Conference this year brought together Ministers and delegations from all over Africa and Korea, representing governmental organizations, the private sector, academia, and the media.
Established jointly by South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea in 2006, KOAFEC has served as a comprehensive platform for promoting mutually beneficial partnership between Korea and Africa.
By Sam OKwakol, East African Business Week
Source: agricouncil
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