ABSTRACT

Mobilization of private sector investment and expertise in support of infrastructure development, operation and maintenance is of paramount importance. The private sector is seen to offer exciting alternatives and opportunities. By entering into PPPs, delivery of public service infrastructure may be enhanced by accessing the private sector’s financial, managerial, professional and technical expertise (N.T. Rao 2003). Private sector   resources can enhance the necessary maintenance and operation of infrastructure. This allows public services to be delivered more efficiently and effectively, which allows Government resources to be channeled into other areas where direct public investment and intervention is required. This paper analyses the prospects of encouraging Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in the transport sector in developing countries with particular focus on the East Africa region. It discusses the importance of securing the injection of private finance in order to accelerate the delivery of public capital designed to remedy East Africa’s road infrastructural deficit. The paper notes that PPP plays an important role in facilitating national and regional mobility. It explores valuable insights about established PPP interventions in developed countries and goes on to argue that the relative maturity of these programmes offer a rich environment for the collection of useful and tested information of PPP policies and practices for East Africa. The paper identifies the challenges of the road sub sector in East Africa and proposes significant institutional learning prospects on how such challenges can be overcome. It also tackles practical experiences of designated national road agencies (Government Institutions responsible for Roads) in the East African Region, their formation, structure and institutional contribution to the development of roads using PPP. The paper concludes with an argument that since most countries have embraced privatization of state enterprises because they are not frugal in doing business, they should as well divest their interest from road construction and management since their capacity to do the same is quite limited too.