The Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the World Bank and the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) are organising a five-day national workshop on good practices on building Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The Workshop will particularly deal with institutional, legal, contractual and financial aspects for infrastructure development in the port, rail and road sectors.

The Workshop, which is taking place at Akosombo from 2nd – 6th February 2015, was opened by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, who stressed the importance of implementing alternative funding solutions such as PPPs. “We are therefore concentrating on developing our professionals and specialists, who will anchor the programme on foundations of knowledge, experience and skills”, he said. The Workshop is being facilitated by international experts and attended by officers and personnel drawn from public and private institutions working on PPPs. Also in attendance are the Deputy Minister of Transport Mrs Joyce Bawa Mogtari and the Board Chairman of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, Hon. Ibrahim Adam.

The objectives of the Workshop are to strengthen the capacity of participants in the areas of identification, preparation, negotiation, implementation, management and monitoring and evaluation of PPP projects; promote and share experiences and good practices between different sectors and institutions to build capacity and strengthen good governance; as well as encourage the use of international best practices on PPPs that address social and economic concerns of our country.

PPPs are long-term contractual partnership arrangements between public and private institutions to develop public infrastructure and services.

PPPs are becoming increasingly important in emerging countries like Ghana as a development instrument. The underlying principle of PPPs is to bring together public and private entities to design, finance, build and manage public infrastructure and services. PPPs can be designed for a variety of sectors including drinking water supply, sanitation, public transportation, telecommunications as well as certain aspects of healthcare delivery and education.

Currently, projects being undertaken as PPPs in Ghana include the Accra-Takoradi Highway Dualisation, Boankra Inland Port/Eastern Railway Line, Takoradi Port Rehabilitation and Expansion, the establishment of a New National Airline, Diagnostic Services at Korle Bu, Model Markets project and the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly Community Project.

The World Bank is sponsoring the Workshop as part of its overall four-year support to the Government of Ghana on PPPs through a $30 million IDA credit to provide legislative, institutional and transaction support aimed at improving the Government’s capacity to generate a pipeline of bankable projects.

To support both public institutions on one hand and private companies on the other hand, AFD and its subsidiary in charge of the private sector offer a wide range of financial tools to finance PPPs in Ghana, from soft loans, equity investments, and technical assistance to grants.