The Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit in the Office of the President after completion of phase one of its sensitization workshop on PPP concepts and processes through the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, resumed and continued to provide similar sensitization for local government authorities and the private sector in the northern township of Makeni on Tuesday 24 March, 2015.
The first phase of the sensitization which commenced on February 24 and ended on March 27, 2015 covered two regions of west and south respectively. Addressing participants at the Makeni Council City Hall where the second and penultimate phase of PPP sensitization kicked off, the PPP Coordinator Mr. Abu Kamara meticulously explained the objective of the sensitization workshop, and explained that the workshop was to get people from every sector involved so as to fully achieve the President's Agenda for Prosperity.
He said PPP arrangement is an opportunity to help utilize private sector expertise and efficiency in delivery of public assets at the level of local councils. This he said, will create employment and help the councils to efficiently deliver on their projects within a limited resource environment.
"As a unit, we are here to educate the local councils in the north on PPP processes and procedures," he pointed out, saying that the education will enable local councils identify projects that are socio-economically viable for their respective localities. Making a power point presentation, the PPP Senior Business Analyst Mohamed Abu Sesay disclosed that PPP is for viable projects and maintained that they normally conduct due diligence on private sector/foreign investors to prove their viability.
Also, he said, PPP goes in for projects of people's needs and hence the need for analysis. In what he referred to as a generally accepted definition of PPP, Mr. Sesay defined PPP as a contractual arrangement between public and private entities through which the skills, assets or financial resources of public and private sector institutions are allocated in a complementary manner, thereby sharing the risk and rewards aimed at providing optimal service delivery and goods to citizens.
He explained that PPP is value for money and that it revolves around what he referred to as the three Es - efficiency, economic and effectiveness. He furthered that PPP helps to cushion government's enormous burden and that people go in for PPP because the central government does not have the adequate resources to deliver all projects and hence the rationale for PPP.
Mr. William Alpha, Chief Administrator (CA) of the Makeni City Council made an excellent presentation on waste management through the PPP concepts citing Bo City Council as a case study. In his presentation, the CA highlighted the many successes of the Bo City Council which included the properly organized waste management system, plastic tiling and recycling of scrap materials which he said has provided employment opportunities for a good number of youth in Bo.
Mr. Alpha therefore encouraged the Makeni City Council to make proper use of PPP concepts to emulate Bo City Council as this, he said, will help provide job opportunities for youth in Makeni and its environs.In a very confident mood, the PPP Coordinator expressed firm belief that the PPP concepts will be well utilized and carefully followed by local authorities upon the completion of the sensitization workshop scheduled for all the four regions. Kenema in the eastern region will be the last place to host the workshop, the Coordinator said, and emphasized that the PPP process is continuous and described it as a life cycle.
SHCU©2015