PPP: ICRC partners PPP institute on infrastructure delivery
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is partnering with the Institute for Public-Private Partnerships (IP3) to the deliver infrastructure in the country.
The organisations entered into the agreement to drive the delivery of infrastructure when the IP3 Team led by its Director of PPPs, Mr Tomas Kiguel visited the ICRC chief executive, Mr Aminu Dikko in Abuja on Thursday.
Speaking during the agreement signing ceremony, Dikko described the collaboration as a major milestone for the ICRC as it would help the commission achieve its mandate.
“It is true that without training, we will just be floundering without being able to reach our milestone and we are happy that we are having this relationship with IP3.
“Having regard to the many years of experience the IP3 have garnered in training personnel all around the world; they have trained people from over 170 countries totaling over about 35,000 personnel.
“I know how rigorous and important the training schedule is and that is why it is important that we have this relationship so that we can impact this knowledge to Nigerians in Nigeria without having to travel outside the country.
“The role of ICRC in the country is to regulate how PPPs (Public Private Partnership) are structured.
“We assist the MDAs by guiding them in structuring PPP but to do that they have to be capacitated, they have to be knowledgeable about the PPP process.
“So it is important that when we have this relationship with you there will be so many opportunities for us to drill home the significance of PPP in delivering infrastructure.”
Dikko noted that the country practiced the traditional procurement process where infrastructure was delivered through contractors based on budgetary.
He explained that the process had become old fashioned and in need of improvement with the assistance of a strong institution like the IP3 to deliver the message more effectively. “We will be covering areas like privatisation of projects, bankability of the projects, affordability and the most critical aspect financial modeling aspect of PPPs.”
Dikko expressed optimism that the two-year agreement entered into with the lP3 would be renewable to meet its goal. “We hope we will keep renewing it until everyone in the public sector is fully aware of what PPPs can do to help this country to deliver on skill and infrastructure,” he said. Responding, the IP3 Director of PPPs Tomas Kiguel, expressed the institute’s pleasure in partnering with the ICRC to drive PPP in Nigeria.
Kiguel said it has been the mandate of IP3 to help governments successfully structure PPP projects. He said the institute had also helped governments in the development and monitoring of PPP projects.
He said the institute expanded over the years, with 440 offices around the world and with a big presence in Africa. “ We have strong engineering firms and are able to bring the best teams in power, water, telecommunication, transport, airport, ports etc. “We have about 200 million dollars contract to manage the Power Africa initiative across the continent and Nigeria is one of the country’s benefiting from the U.S. government’s Power Africa initiative.
“ We are extremely delighted to be with ICRC in this very critical moment in Nigeria to push the PPP pipeline one step forward. “We are really looking forward to this close cooperation with the ICRC, all our resources and teams are fully available to support the ICRC mandate in PPP team in Nigeria. Also Mr sebastine Quijada, Senior Legal and PPP Adviser, IP3, urged the ICRC to rise to its mandate as a regulator to inspire other government agencies to effectively drive PPP projects.
“A key element of accessing PPP policy is precisely developing an industry. “ You need to inspire and motivate your colleagues in other developmental offices but you also need to take the lead with the private sector because at the end of the day you need to develop an industry.’’
