The facility is expected to increase the pace of attracting investments for rapid industrialisation.

 

A draft on the formation of the institution has been submitted to the President's Office (Public Service Management).

 

The assistant director of investments in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr James Mboya, last week told a workshop on irrigation financing here that the organisation structure of the centre had been submitted to the President's Office for approval.

 

"Under the PPP Act of 2010, there is a requirement for establishing the PPP Centre for overseeing and co-ordinating joint investments between the public and private sectors," said Mr Mboya. According to him, when the centre will be in place for active execution of duties stipulated under the PPP Act, all projects submitted by investors will be worked on efficiently.

 

"Since irrigation projects fall under public goods category, they require economic viability studies to be handled by the PPP Centre. The ministry responsible for irrigation will be required to conduct pre-feasibility studies and then prepare feasibility studies for announcing to potential investors to participate under PPP arrangement," he said.

 

Mr Mboya listed successful irrigation projects under PPP in other countries such as the Moroccan irrigation project that cost $85 million (Sh170 billion) and a multi-billion shillings investment in Egypt for irrigating 79,800 hectares.

 

According to former permanent secretary Peniel Lyimo, since most irrigation projects are long term and require huge investments in infrastructure, they need long -term collaborations between private and public investors.

 

He proposes that for the country to attract more investments in agriculture, the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) must be a one-stop centre for attracting more funds from potential public and private investors. "Experience under the first phase of Agricultural Sector Development Strategy has shown that many people are interested in long-term investments. Thus there is a great need to build a national commitment for embarking on long-term vision for attracting investors through a well-coordinated approach."

 

The chief executive officer of the Southern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania, Mr Geoffrey Kirenga, insists that under the PPP policy the role of the government to support initiatives developed by the private sector investors will be increasing. "The process of transforming agriculture into an industry has just started. We need a predictable environment for attracting more investments. We have to work as a team. We have just started a journey for cooperation between private and public sectors to transforming agriculture into an industry."

 

The head of agriculture and rural finance at the Financial Sector Deepening Trust (FSDT), Mr Mwombeki Baregu, said a facility for commercial financing of irrigation would be formed because the public sector alone could not easily bridge the funding gap.

 

Mr Baregu said under the PPP, NIC, FSDT and the 2023 Water Resources Group Tanzania Partnership had agreed to establish the National Efficient Irrigation Financing Facility with a target of raising $100 million (Sh200 billion) for commercial financing.

Source : allafrica.com