Effective Public-Private Partnership will accelerate dev’t - Minister

Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, says the effective implementation of the public-private partnership through the execution of infrastructural projects will accelerate economic development in Cameroon.

Minister Nganou Djoumessi made the remark while chairing the opening of a two-day workshop on public-private partnership in Yaounde on January 20.

Initiated by the Minister, the seminar was bankrolled by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation.

The workshop was aimed at arming stakeholders with knowledge, for the effective execution of infrastructural and development projects within the context of the public-private partnership.

It was in this perspective that the Minister said an effective public-private partnership will ensure the execution of the projects that will stir economic development, create decent jobs and satisfy the basic socio-economic needs of citizens.

He said it was necessary to devise strategies for the reduction of administrative bottlenecks in the execution of projects, as well as, get rid of the financial constraints of the State.

He said for the public-private partnership to be successful, public administrations involved in the preparation of the Public Investment Budget must be fully committed.

The Minister said it was incumbent on the different administrations to master the procedures and mechanisms for the execution of projects within the ambit of the public-private partnership.

Within this context, the Minister stated that Government recently increased public investment from 20 to 30 percent so as to fund infrastructural projects.

He added that Government was putting in place a public-private partnership legal framework for its smooth functioning.

Addressing participants during the seminar, the Director of Operations at the World Bank Office in Cameroon, Gregor Binkert, said the use of the public-private partnership has ensured the construction of many modern development infrastructures in many countries of the world.

He regretted that in the CEMAC sub-region, less than five percent of infrastructure is constructed under the context of the public-private partnership. To him, such a percentage was the lowest in the world and is also a pointer to the fact that the concept has not well been appropriated for development.

The World Bank official said it was incumbent on countries of the region to create favourable institutional and legal regulatory frameworks suitable for the success of the public-private partnership.

He said the public-private partnership is part of the initiative that Cameroon can use to accelerate the development of its infrastructure, create wealth and reduce poverty.

Going by him, the seminar was an opportunity for participants to listen to experiences on the implementation of the public-private partnership elsewhere, in order to implement them.

They have to learn; he went on, how to cope with the institutional, legal and technical intricacies in the implementation of the public-private partnership.

During the seminar, participants listened to presentations on the international experiences as well as the specific context of Cameroon.