Mrs Mona Quartey, Deputy Minister of Finance, has urged the local private sector to position itself so it can partner government to provide critical infrastructure and services needed in the country.

“Government is providing the necessary framework and regulatory requirements to assist the local investor become a key player in the Ghana Public Private Partnerships Programme (PPP). We therefore urge you to adequately prepare and be innovative in finding ways to partner government in PPP projects”, Mrs Quartey, said in a speech read on her behalf by Mrs Magdalene Apenteng, Director of Public Investment Division at the Ministry of Finance.

At a forum held in Accra by Finance Ministry for members of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday, Ms Quartey said the PPP programme is central to government’s development agenda since it helps in accelerating the development and the provision of required infrastructure.

The PPP also serves as a vehicle to promote the Ghanaian private sector and in the overall development of the country.

The forum is part of government’s continuing efforts to promote the understanding of the PPP concept and galvanise support in the quests to find new ways to provide better public infrastructure and services through PPP.

Government, which has over the years been grappling with the provision of adequate and reliable infrastructure to facilitate socio-economic development of the country, therefore, approved the National Policy on PPP’s in 2011 to encourage private sector participation in the timely provision of services.

“The Ghanaian private sector is critical to the success of the PPP programme,” Mrs Quartey said.

She explained that a PPP principally enables government to provide better infrastructure and services through the use of private sector financial, human and technical resources, thereby freeing government resources for other equally important uses.

She said it has been established that a minimum of 1.5 billion dollars is required per annum over the next decade to enable Ghana make up for its infrastructural deficit.

She also announced that a number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) and MMDAs have been selected and currently developing projects that could be procured through the PPP arrangements.

She said some of the identified projects include the improvement and construction of the Accra-Takoradi Highway into a dual carriageway, the Boankra Inland Port and Eastern Railway Line Project, the Accra-Kumasi Road project and the Takoradi Port Expansion Projects.

Other projects include the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Diagnostic Project, the National Sports College Infrastructure project and the expansion of the Accra-Tema Motorway. The rest are the development of modern markets, lorry parks and other community infrastructure projects including provision of sanitation facilities.

Mrs Magdalene Apenteng, Director of Ministry of Finance’s Public Investment Division (MoF-PID), said the forum forms part of series of meetings planned to engage the private sector to educate them on the PPP and encourage them to form partnerships and help develop the country.

She said Brazil and India are some of the countries which have attained so much development under similar PPPs.

She therefore urged participants at the forum to take advantage of the partnerships to expand their businesses as a means of creating more jobs for the people.

Mr Wilson Atta Krofah, Immediate Past President of GCCI, said the engagement was providing the platform to dialogue on the readiness of the local private sector to engage government for investment purposes.

“The PPP serves as an avenue for accelerated infrastructure delivery, a means for risk sharing between the government and private sector partners, technology and capacity development and a means for increasing international and domestic investment”.

Mr Atta Krofah said since government alone could not provide the entire infrastructure needed in the country, involving the private sector in Ghana would absolutely be critical to scale up investment in government projects.

He said PPP was a good way to develop local content in Ghana and therefore, members of GCCI should take advantage of the PPP and help develop projects at the local level which include markets, lorry parks, libraries, schools, as well as sanitation projects, as a basis for domestic enterprises to grow.