Public-Private Partnerships Development Finance Model in Zimbabwe Infrastructure Projects

Abstract

The economic meltdown and infrastructure decay in Zimbabwe over the past two decades has been strongly attributed to the absence of public-private sector partnerships amid political decay. The rapid intervention by government in the last two years to undertake PPPs has been more pronounced in road network re-construction although not so many projects have been done to date. The financing model of these PPPs has taken centre stage hence the main objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the PPP development finance model on infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe. PPPs are an alternative source of funding on infrastructure projects and have proved to ease pressure on governments as far as funds for capital intensive projects are concerned. The paper recommends the adoption of different PPP models for each sector given the differential requirements in each sector. It was found that a blanket model for all sectors does not work properly as different sectors have their unique characteristics. In addition, the paper recommends a speedy finalisation of the already initiated policy and institutional framework process to govern PPPs, which would also include putting measures in place centred on risk analysis and management during the process, issues on financing and issues on the mobilisation and incentivising of the private sector to participate in the process.