SADC Announces African Infrastructure Master Plan, PPP Contracts Worth $100bn up for Grabs

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, February 24, 2011 - With Africa being touted as the 'new frontier' for infrastructure
development, The Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat
has started developing an 'infrastructure development master plan', reports
Engineering News. In addition to the massive infrastructure projects already
being implemented across the region, SADC's development plan will deal with
an estimated $100 billion deficit in the region's roads, railways, ports and
inland waterways, power, communication and water infrastructure.

Prompted by a recent World Bank-initiated study that estimated Africa's
yearly infrastructure deficit at $91-billion, while the yearly
"infrastructure gap" stood at $31-billion, the region's Finance and Economic
Planning Ministers also agreed to proceed with a workshop in March to
strategise the development of a new SADC fund to support the direct financing
of infrastructure projects in the territory.

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are now widely recognised as a vehicle
to assist governments close material, financial, managerial and technical
gaps, while supporting further regional infrastructure integration. SADC's
Deputy Executive Secretary for regional integration Joao Caholo recognizes
this by stating that the plan - the finalisation of which was accelerated
following the inaugural meeting of SADC's infrastructure Ministers in
Zimbabwe last year - would seek to leverage private sector funding and
partnerships to alleviate public financing constraints. The new 'Finance and
Investment' partnership model in line with SADC's protocol calls for greater
economic policy convergence and regulatory harmonisation to remove
restrictions to greater economic integration.

The same ministers from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
in Uganda, the Ministry of Finance in Kenya, the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Planning in Ghana as well as from the PPP Unit at Department of
National Treasury in South Africa will attend PPP Investment Summit in June
to discuss and debate successful strategies and models for structuring and
financing PPPs across Africa.

The Johannesburg based summit facilitates discussions on leveraging PPP
opportunities and highlights the vision for infrastructure growth as one of
the most important drivers to ensure service delivery goals are achieved. The
programme can be found on www.pppinvestmentsafrica.com and includes
PPP thought leaders from NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, African
Development Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa sharing their insights
into priority projects in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana, while key
financiers and advisors will provide first-hand feedback of what investors
are saying about infrastructure partnerships.

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For information about PPP Investment Summit taking place 27 - 30 June
2011 in Johannesburg, Sandton, South Africa please visit
www.pppinvestmentsafrica.com or alternatively please contact: Katia
Andrejev, Marketing Manager, IQPC at katia.andrejev@iqpc.com or call
+971-4446-2748

Contact: Katia Andrejev, Marketing Manager, IQPC at katia.andrejev at iqpc.com or call
+971-4446-2748