Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Hon. Eng. Charles Milupi, says the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model of financing infrastructure projects is not a permanent policy but a temporal one, as government awaits to resolve the country’s current indebtedness.
Hon. Milupi says the UPND Alliance government inherited an indebted country and that the immediate solution to enable the government address the dilapidated infrastructure in the country has been to go the PPP way on viable projects.
The Minister was speaking at his office when visiting United Republic of Tanzania Minister for Transport, Works and Communications, Professor Makame Mbarawa, paid a curtesy call on him.
He said the Government decided to embark on the PPP model of financing infrastructure projects due to the distressed economy which the UPND Alliance government inherited.
“With regard to the PPP model of financing infrastructure projects, the reason why we are going this direction is because we have a distressed economy. When we came into power in 2021, we did not find enough money in our reserves to enable us finance major capital projects. We could not even borrow because we found that we were an over borrowed state,” Hon. Milupi said.
He went on to say that government has however engaged the country’s creditors with the aim of resolving the current debt crisis.
“However, the state of infrastructure in the country such as the Great North Road and the Lusaka – Ndola Road among many others cannot wait for us to conclude our negotiations thus the decision by the government to embark on PPP,” Hon. Milupi explained.
He told his Tanzanian counterpart that it is possible for all the processes and procedures involved in the PPP to be concluded in Six Months depending on the focus and determination of all partners involved.
Meanwhile Hon. Milupi said Government appreciates the collaboration and support it has continued to receive from Tanzania in the development of critical infrastructure such as the Nakonde one stop border post.
And Professor Mbarawa said his country has also embarked on PPP model of financing Infrastructure projects but wanted to visit some neighbouring countries that have already gone the PPP way.
“I am here in Zambia, and I read in the Newspapers that your government recently signed a PPP concession agreement for a road, for this reason, I have decided to come and learn from your government how best you are executing the PPP,” Professor Mbarawa said.
He said he wanted to know how long the PPP processes and procedures take before actual work on a project can start.MIHUD/PRO
