A workshop on the challenges and key factors for the success of the implementation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) was held on 11 June in Libreville. On the occasion, the Deputy Director of Financing at Proparco highlighted the challenge of African countries on the infrastructure paradox.

Many countries are turning to the private sector to design, build, build, finance and operate infrastructure projects that have hitherto been the public sector. Scarlett Carre Malberg noted the African paradox that despite large project pipelines; opportunities to access finance from banks, development finance institutions and private actors, too much investment is being made. For the director, this paradox could be overcome by overcoming

According to Scarlett Carre Malberg, these weaknesses concern the lack of long-term planning, the poor implementation of PPP programs, the limited resources often devoted to assessing the main financial risks, the inability to agree on the distribution of risks, the inability to obtain guarantee agreements with governments that are unable to provide sovereign guarantees, the delay in obtaining permits and agreements

To address these weaknesses, Proparco's Deputy Finance Director said that governments need to consider how to improve the mobilization of the private sector in commercially viable infrastructure sectors, consider reallocating public funding and strengthen collaboration with financial institutions.