Gov't solicits World Bank aid for public-private partnership

A meeting was held in Yaounde to reinforce the use of public-private partnerships (PPP) in the context of the implementation of State projects.

Several members of the Government and numerous actors from the public and private sectors met January 20-21 in Yaounde to find an effective way to increase the use of public-private partnerships (PPP) in the context of the implementation of State projects.

This meeting was held as part of a workshop on public-private partnerships organized by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (Minepat) across the Board support for the execution of contracts of private-public partnerships. For this workshop, the Government requested the support of the International Finance Corporation (Ifc) and the World Bank.

Thus, participants agreed that "the justification for the use of a PPP rather than other modes of control is based on the generally accepted idea that an optimal sharing of risks between the public and private partners creates a more favourable cost/benefit balance for the public sector and, ultimately, to society".

It was an opportunity for public authorities to recall under the gaze of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank tax benefits related to PPPs for private partners: maintenance of infrastructure financing, implementation of good governance practices, encouraging the mobilization of new and additional funding in favour of infrastructure and creation of new opportunities for development of local financial markets.

This meeting takes place in a context of Fluidization of public spending and consolidation of the weight of the private sector in the commercial balance of Cameroon, in the hope of effectively engaging the urgency of accelerating the growth plan decided by President Paul Biya last December.