Will PPPs unlock Africa's infrastructure deficit?

There is an infrastructure challenge in Africa. Annually, there is a funding gap of up to $100 billion for?infrastructural development. Yet the?African Continental Free Trade Area, one of the biggest projects on the continent currently, cannot succeed without adequate infrastructure (Africa Renewal e-magazine, October 2022 - Ongoing regional infrastructure will boost free trade in Africa | Africa Renewal (un.org).

I have chosen to open my article with this quote pulled out of an interview of African Development Bank?(AfDB) President,?Akinwumi Adesina in his interesting conversation with Africa Renewal’s?Kingsley Ighobor. This topic has pre-occupied my mind and indeed my endeavors since my return to Kenya in 2015 when I joined PwC Kenya Deals and Infrastructure advisory practice as the lead charged with establishing a new infrastructure advisory practice. I had hitherto led a quiet and fulfilling career for 8 years at Sasol in #ProjectManagement and #BusinessArchitecture, and had the pleasure of learning from and working in an environment where cutting edge technology, capital projects development and the world of mega projects meet. Sasol builds mega scale petrochemical plants around the world using its proprietary Fischer–Tropsch technologies and is now leading the world again in contemporary energy-related technologies including the green hydrogen revolution.

I was encouraged to relocate to Kenya following a 10-year diaspora worker experience in the USA and South Africa after attending a road show in Johannesburg by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013 during the season when he went around the globe encouraging Kenyan experts in the diaspora to return home and support him in implementing the Big 4 Agenda. In a destiny inspired final Partner interview with Kuria Muchiru in 2014 I switched my decision from joining the PwC Kenya Strategy Practice to instead take up his challenge to establish a PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory, Capital Projects & Infrastructure (CP&I) practice within PwC Kenya and that plunged me into the world of #infrastructure and #ppps.

My personal journey ranging from efforts to establish a CP&I practice for PwC Kenya to establishing a start-up company Howard Aidevo Consulting Ltd , and the skills development arm of the business BCDIP , mirrors the challenging journey in closing the infrastructure gap in Africa. I have been back in the Kenya market for over 8 years and for the most part playing in the #infrastructuredevelopment space, sometimes offering project preparation and structuring advice to infrastructure development clients, other times lobbying with fellow #builtenvironment leaders to have local professionals and contractors included in infrastructure projects, a glimpse into government agency infrastructure project development practices as a board member, but for the most part spearheading skills development training programs for industry players through the BCDIP brand.

I have witnessed global infrastructure companies, including 艾奕康 and 阿特金斯 attempt to get established in the market then exit, observed interesting acquisitions such as that one of Turner & Townsend and MML which created a thriving Project Management practice in the market, and take note of KPMG East Africa as the only one amongst its #Big4 peers to have successfully established a thriving infrastructure advisory practice. I returned to the market buoyed by the elevating dreams of massive #infrastructure project development including LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority (LCDA) projects, crude oil pipeline that would link Uganda and South Sudan to Lamu Port, Tullow Oil exploration activities promising many Upstream opportunities, yet sadly have only witnessed the completion of the SGR to Naivasha, the USAHIHI Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway and an impressive road network upgrade around the country, albeit a paltry record when compared to the ambitious targets set by the Jubilee Administration BIG 4 Agenda. It is quite telling that unless one takes a long-term bet on Africa closing the infrastructure deficit will remain only but a dream.

"So, infrastructure financing for us, going forward, should have to be a public-private partnership, with increased participation of the private sector." (Africa Renewal e-magazine, October 2022 - Ongoing regional infrastructure will boost free trade in Africa | Africa Renewal (un.org).

Another quote from Akinwumi Adesina as he confirms AfDB's commitment to developing infrastructure in Africa. The?AfDB?has been investing heavily in infrastructure in Africa and has invested well over $44 billion in infrastructure—from roads to airports, seaports, digital infrastructure, water and sanitation and energy infrastructure.?

I participated in a few PPP transactions whilst working with the PwC Kenya Deals Advisory team which made me appreciate the challenges one has to contend with to close a PPP transaction and successfully construct a project on a PPP arrangement. We were working in an environment where PPP as a project financing and implementation regime was new to the market, the PPP Act 2010 was very cumbersome to work with, the skills and capacity in the market limited and quite frankly the political class lacked the patience to see the processes through. After all, former President Mwai Kibaki's Administration handed over a solid economic blueprint (the #kenyavision2030) which had a pipeline of ready to execute projects and the Chinese Government as a development partner was ready with financing to kick things off. Kenya Kwanza Administration seems keen to listen having learned some hard lessons from the previous administration's approach to financing infrastructure development and is keen to make PPPs a key feature in implementing its Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda. BCDIP has become intentional about awareness creation and is constantly seeking opportunities to spread expert knowledge on Public-Private Partnerships. In March the brand hosted a PPP panel discussion at the WASIC conference convened by the Water Sector Trust Fund (WaterFund) amidst the conversation on how PPPs will play a central role in closing the Kes 995B funding gap with Kes 313B to be raised through PPPs in order to finance the ambitious #NAWASIP (2022-2030) plan. Once again BCDIP has been invited to host a PPP conversation at the #EAPi2024 summit which will take place on 17th - 18th April in Nairobi. The panelists Aleem Tharani Christine Ng'ang'a Lawrence Mbugua (PhD, FHEA, PMP, MRICS, RQS) Bahati Kerubo bring diverse and rich expertise to the conversation. Follow by blog series on LinkedIn articles for the upcoming days leading up to the summit to find out more about what is in store.

The author:

Rose Kananu, PMP?, CP3P-Foundation, Civil Engineer is the Founder and Managing Director of Howard Aidevo Consulting Ltd and the creator of the BCDIP brand.

She is on a mission to build capacity for professionals and contractors in PPP and Project Management so that Africa's infrastructure is built by Africans.