Region: Sub-Saharan Africa
Country: Ghana
Sector: Water and Sanitation
Keywords: Knowledge Lab, Water
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Document Summary:
This note offers context to Ghana’s public-private partnership (PPP) environment and infrastructure situation, and presents a prospective case study illustrating the potential of structuring a PPP around a cluster of water stations in rural communities and small towns in Ghana. The preliminary financial analysis will assist us in understanding the incentives to public and private sectors as a means to achieving local sustainability for community water systems.
Document Details:
The Ghana National Policy on PPPs was approved by the Cabinet in June 2011 to encourage the use of PPPs as a means of leveraging public- and private-sector resources and expertise to close the infrastructure gap and deliver efficient public infrastructure and services. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning leads PPP development in Ghana through its Public Investment Division. Projects under the national PPP program are selected from sectors that have been identified within the National Infrastructure Plan, including water, waste management, and flood control. The 2010 Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic reports that Ghana stands out as having an advanced infrastructure platform when compared with other low-income countries in Africa.2 It boasts a substantial volume of water storage by African standards and
significant improvement in utility finances but continues to struggle with the reliability of water and power supply. Addressing all of Ghana’s infrastructure challenges, including water, will require sustained expenditure of almost $2.3 billion per year over the next decade, split between investment and operations, and maintenance. The report states that raising the country’s infrastructure endowment to that of the region’s middle-income countries could boost annual growth by more than 2.7 percentage points. Infrastructure contributed just over one percentage point to Ghana’s improved per capita growth performance during the 2000’s.
The Parliament of Ghana endorsed the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund bill in July 2014, and in February 2015, President John Dramani Mahama set up a nine-member board of directors and a five-member advisory committee. The board will advise the Minister of Finance on viable projects to be financed by the fund, including those involving joint ventures and PPP projects. The government of Ghana has clearly prioritized PPPs to implement national infrastructure plans, providing a timely opportunity for stakeholders along the value chain to advance partnerships for community water provision.
Updated: April 12, 2022