The Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the World Bank and the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) have organised a five-day national workshop on good practices on building Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) at Akosombo in the Eastern Region.

The Workshop dealt with institutional, legal, contractual and financial aspects for infrastructure development in the port, rail and road sectors and 40 participants attended.

Mr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Deputy Minister of Finance, who opened the workshop stressed the importance of implementing alternative funding solutions such as PPPs.

In that regard, the Finance Ministry was concentrating on developing its professionals and specialists, who would anchor the programme on foundations of knowledge, experience and skills.

The objectives of the workshop were to strengthen the capacity of participants in the areas of identification, preparation, negotiation, implementation, management, and monitoring and evaluation of PPP projects.

It also aimed at promoting and sharing of experiences and good practices between different sectors and institutions, to build capacity and strengthen good governance; as well as encourage the use of international best practices on PPPs that address social and economic concerns of Ghana.

Mr. Forson said PPPs were long-term contractual partnership arrangements between public and private institutions to develop public infrastructure and services.

The PPPs, he explained, were becoming increasingly important in emerging countries like Ghana as a development instrument and that the underlying principle of PPPs was to bring together public and private entities to design, finance, build and manage public infrastructure and services.

The Deputy Finance Minister said the PPPs could be designed for a variety of sectors including drinking water supply, sanitation, public transportation, and telecommunications as well as certain aspects of healthcare delivery and education.

Currently, projects being undertaken as PPPs in Ghana included the Accra-Takoradi Highway Dualisation, Boankra Inland Port/Eastern Railway Line, Takoradi Port Rehabilitation and Expansion, the establishment of a New National Airline, Diagnostic Services at Korle Bu, Model Markets project and the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly Community Project.

The World Bank sponsored the Workshop as part of its overall four-year support to the Government of Ghana on PPPs through a $30 million IDA credit to provide legislative, institutional and transaction support aimed at improving the Government’s capacity to generate a pipeline of bankable projects.

To support both public institutions on one hand and private companies on the other hand, AFD and its subsidiary in charge of the private sector offers a wide range of financial tools to finance PPPs in Ghana, from soft loans, equity investments, and technical assistance to grants.

The Workshop was being facilitated by international experts and attended by officers and personnel drawn from public and private institutions working on PPPs.