The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Jobson Ewalefoh, has urged West African governments to embrace Public-Private Partnerships as a critical strategy for closing the region’s widening infrastructure gap.
He warned that public resources alone can no longer finance the roads, railways, housing, water systems and other essential projects needed to drive economic growth.
Ewalefoh made the call during a panel session at the ECOWAS Infrastructure Forum held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Acting Head of Media and Publicity at the ICRC, Ifeanyi Nwoko.
“Governments can no longer rely solely on public resources to deliver the roads, railways, housing, water and other critical infrastructure needed for sustainable economic growth,” he said.
Africa faces one of the world’s largest infrastructure financing gaps. According to the African Development Bank Group, the continent requires between $130bn and $170bn annually to meet its infrastructure needs but faces a financing shortfall of about $68bn to $108bn every year.
