Zambia’s president Rupiah Banda revealed the country’s new PPP policy and proposals for a special delivery unit at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka. He said that the policy had been developed to rope in the private sector to help stimulate the economy.
"The PPP as already outlined is intended to accelerate development, bring about modern infrastructure development and services accessible to all. Zambia’s strategic location on the continent makes it possible for the country to become the hub of various regional infrastructure links such as transport, energy and telecommunications, health, education and tourism infrastructure," he said.
Government’s next steps include setting up a PPP Unit, to be administered by the ministry of finance, and implementing a legal framework. The Zambia Development Agency will work with the new PPP Unit to promote project pipelines.
The president also urged all government departments to identify possible projects. The consensus from the conference was that PPP should be transparent, private sector involvement made projects more viable and the government lacked resources to implement much-needed infrastructure development.