Ms Judith Nwako, Infrastructure Coordinator at the SADC Secretariat has announced that the preparation of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Master Plan has been completed, and was being circulated to stakeholders. The plan covers the key infrastructure areas of transport, energy, tourism and information and communication technology, and is expected to cost up to US$ 600bn over the lifetime of the plan.

Ms Nwako was speaking at the SADC PPP Network Working Group which took place on September 13, 2012 at the Protea Hotel OR Tambo in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She stressed the need for engagement with PPP units of the member states for the successful implementation plan.

The SADC PPP Network Working Group meeting was convened to discuss Policy, Legal Frameworks and Institutional Arrangements for PPPs, as well as recent developments in infrastructure and public private partnerships.  It was attended by delegates from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. The attendance also included officials from the SADC Secretariat, the SADC-DFRC, GIZ, WBI, OECD, JICA, and PPIAF.

At the same meeting, Dr. Azadeh Kopp-Moini, who was engaged by EPEC and the PPP Network Secretariat, presented a paper on a Regional Framework for Policies, Legal Frameworks and Institutional Arrangements. She outlined the approach that was taken, including the review of the existing frameworks within the 14 SADC member states, and undertook a comparative analysis with major, developed PPP markets around the world, and presented the conclusions and recommendations arrived at.

The draft regional framework paper essentially recommends a set of principles and guidelines to be adopted by SADC member states in order to refine and develop PPP policies, legal frameworks and institutional arrangements, based on good practice, that will ultimately achieve harmonisation, as far as possible, across the region. The second session of the meeting discussed the practicalities around the implementation of the framework, including a country presentation by Zambia on their policy and institutional arrangements for PPPs, for peer-review and expert input on the basis of the proposed guidelines.

The Working group meeting was followed by the second SADC PPP Network Steering Committee meeting which was held on Friday, September 14, 2012, and was attended by representatives of member states and international cooperating partners.