Public Private Partnership (PPP) specialist Charlie Msusa says Malawi is losing out on infrastructure development due to capacity gaps on PPPs frameworks.
The World Bank describes PPPs as long-term contracts between a private party and a government agency for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears a significant risk and management responsibility.
In an interview on the sidelines of a Project Managers’ Network in Malawi talk on Thursday, Msusa, who previously worked for Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC), said because PPPs are relatively new, understanding them has been a challenge both for the public and private sectors.
He said: “By contracting the private sector to undertake a cost-recovering economic infrastructure project, scarce government capital budgets can be directed to other priority social services.
“The rationale for PPPs is enormous. There is a growing backlog of infrastructure of service provision in the region, including Malawi, in the sectors of energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure, social infrastructure. There is also limited fiscal space for governments to meet these needs.”
A diagnostic study of Malawi’s PPP environment conducted by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) shows that for the past two decades, Malawi has only implemented PPP projects worth $1.2 billion (about K2.1 trillion).
However, Uneca describes the country’s PPP legal framework as one of the best, but urged authorities to market the investment potential with a package of bankable projects to the international fora.
On her part, the network’s vice-president for operations and Old Mutual Malawi head of project management Chimwemwe Kadangwe, said Malawi has yet to fully benefit from PPPs due to lack of awareness, among others.
“Project Managers Network in Malawi will start sensitising people to the PPPs, what is possible and what we can do together to develop this country,” she said.
Earlier, PPPC chief executive officer Patrick Kabambe said the country’s efforts to industrialise key sectors through PPP projects are being undermined by a shortage of funds to finance feasibility studies.
Malawi has comprehensive policy guidelines and legislation for public private partnerships. These are codified in the PPP policy statement approved by the Cabinet on May 18 2011 and the PPP Act of 2022.
