Government, Diaspora partnership vital for PPPs

The partnership between the government and the diasporic community is vital to make Public Private Partnership policy (PPP) and Legislation work properly to aid the country’s development. The government is now encouraging people of Tanzanian origin living abroad to invest themselves and help bring investors in critical sectors like infrastructure, power generation, logistics, irrigation and others. According to the Executive Director of Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Emmanuel Ole Naiko there is a need for each other to make the PPP deliver the desired results. He said this recently when talking at the DICOTA 2010 convention, Minneapolis during his visit in USA. He said experience in Tanzania and other LDC countries in Sub Saharan Africa show that there are things that can best be done by the Government, and there are things that can better be done by private sector. “Working together, in smart partnership, each doing what it is best at doing, the country will move forward,” he stressed.
The concept of PPP entails an arrangement between the Government and the Private Sector entities whereby the private entity will renovate, construct, operate, maintain and manage a facility in whole or in part, in accordance with specified output specifications. The private entity will assume the associated risks for a significant period of time and in return will receive benefits and financial remuneration according to agreed terms. The PPP Policy and Legislation to support it would see a unit set within the TIC to promote and co-ordinate all matters pertaining to PPP in Tanzanian mainland and put the private sector at the centre to bring about socio-economic development through investments. Naiko said that as soon as the PPP legislation becomes operational the private sector would be motivated to undertake several partnerships with the government.

The Executive Director of Tanzania Invwastment Centre, Mr. Emmanuel Ole Naiko

Along with this policy investors in the Road Infrastructure would now build their own private roads and charge toll fare under the system of Build Operate & Transfer (BOT). Such policy and legislation would go a long way to attract investments in roads and railway construction. Tanzania already has some major PPP players even before the new legislation has come into force. They are mostly transnational corporations from South Africa, Middle East and China. The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Coordination and Parliamentary Affairs) said recently that the proposed PPP Bill is a continuation of the government’s commitment to undertaking social-economic reforms since the mid 1980s. He said PPP implemented in Tanzania is based on broad policy reforms, mainly through the privatization of public enterprises under which the government has remained a minority shareholder. South Africa , Brazil , China and Ireland have recorded success in the provision of goods and services to their citizens through PPPs.