Browsing: infrastructure

The AfDB hosted discussions on how it can strengthen support of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and channel greater investment towards economic and social infrastructure.

The bank’s digital workshop was under the theme “Designing the African Development Bank’s PPP Framework”. The economic slowdowns caused by the pandemic have sharpened the already urgent need for investment into the African continent.

In his opening remarks, Solomon Quaynor, the bank’s Vice President noted that infrastructure in Africa is already struggling to structure projects made for the private sector which balanced value for money for the public sector against affordability for the user, before COVID-19.

“It is therefore imperative that hybrid solutions such as PPPs must be seen and promoted as a way of building back better, stronger, greener, by clawing back private capital to infrastructure while creating much need fiscal room for governments to address multiple other demands, including building health systems resilience,” said Quaynor.…

In the past 5 years, Southern Africa had seen a great influx of Chinese capital in any areas of investment. Many Chinese companies invested large amounts of capital in various sectors including infrastructure, but the one that seems to be getting the most attention lately is the Oil and Gas sector.

Governments would sign multi year contracts granting exploration rights and concessions to oil and natural gas reserves to Chinese companies and negotiate royalties and equity in exchange.

The system worked as a co-ownership that was observed in various countries for the great part of the last decade. Since late 2018, or early 2019, China and the United States have engaged in an economic battle that has seen threats and embargoes being set by both sides. The tensions have not eased with the current pandemic as some world leaders chose to blame China’s lack of transparency to the current pandemic …

Since its creation, the Luanda-Bengo Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) has been a factor encouraging investment, not only in the region but also in the Angolan economy.

Its economic evolution has been felt over the last few years, in the flourishing of several innovative projects within this project, much due to the commitment and promotion that the Government has made. One of the paradigmatic examples of this commitment is the privatization plan that has been carried out over the last few months, in order to allow for greater competitiveness in the EEZ and an increase in the investment of national and foreign investors in businesses in order to create wealth and increase national productivity.

In addition to diversifying the economy, the EEZ aims to develop business clusters, create jobs and increase exports.

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For that purpose, the Government has defined a set …