According to Michael Ohiani, the acting director-general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Federal Government expects to make roughly $39 billion through the privatization of public institutions between 2021 and 2022.
The head of the ICRC hinted that it would publish a pipeline of 51 viable and bankable PPP projects worth more than $17 billion in 2021 when he made this announcement yesterday in Abuja at the start of a two-day conference of the Africa Public Private Partnership Network (AP3N).
According to him, the projects from various economic sectors that were given Outline Business Case Compliance Certificates but did not have identifiable bidders were included on the list.
The ICRC plans to publish a pipeline of 53 qualified and bankable PPP projects for 2022, totaling around USD 22 billion, he continued.
The entire amount of the proposed bankable projects now stands at $39 billion.
He further emphasized that as of May 2022, 77 post-contract PPP projects were being implemented via the ICRC Projects Disclosure Site, the first disclosure portal ever created and a joint venture between the World Bank and the ICRC.
According to Ohiani, the ICRC website currently lists 197 pre-contract projects in various stages of project development and procurement as of May 2022.
The government has authorized PPP projects totaling more than $9 billion between 2010 and 2021, according to the ICRC helmsman, and the Commission has so far granted 128 Outline Business Case Compliance Certificates.
Ohiani claimed that the summit’s theme, “Financing Africa’s Infrastructure through PPP,” is not only pertinent but also extremely timely given the crucial role that PPPs have played in the transformation of the global economy and the requirement to mobilize the resources that are currently available in the private sector in order to expand and develop the African economy.
According to him, the goal of the APPPN is to establish a network of PPP specialists throughout Africa in order to find practical solutions to the continent’s infrastructure gap. To do this, the network will bring together PPP Units, professionals, and experts from all over the continent to design, develop, and carry out infrastructure projects in line with international best practices for infrastructure and service delivery.
Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SFF), said that while there are significant infrastructure shortages in Africa, some concerns need to be resolved in order to promote and foster a thriving private sector on the continent and speed up infrastructure development.
He continued, “There is a need to develop friendly investment climates. This can be accomplished by lowering corporate risks and expenses, upholding private property rights, enhancing governance, combating corruption, streamlining laws, and encouraging competition. For intra-African trade to prosper, African nations must defy pressure not to create trade obstacles.
Currently, around 10% of overall exports are made up of trade between African nations. Compared to other parts of the world, this is the lowest. However, we firmly believe that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement will significantly improve the situation.
The continent needs energy, transportation, and new satellite cities to accommodate the millions of people moving from rural to urban areas, according to Boss, who insisted that the current situation presents enormous opportunities for private investment through public-private partnerships. This is especially true for housing, transportation, agriculture, technology, waste management, and social services and amenities. In fact, the entire African economy yearns for significant investment to hasten the structural reform and infrastructure development that would affect the populace.
