Infrastructure needs and Private Capital

John Nellis argues for renewed vigor in the privatization of state owned enterprises."...the need to repair, modernize and expand African infrastructure networks remains very great. The financial resources required for this task must come from governments, official sources, and, increasingly, from private capital markets. The two approaches on which reform hopes have been based have both proven deficient, though in different ways. The revised tactics require further revision. The search for mechanisms that combine private capital and expertise with socially acceptable management and delivery must be renewed...Settling for the more cautious, politically palatable and socially acceptable PPI forms—for example, management contracts as opposed to concessions or divestitures—will not solve the capital shortage problem. Moreover, and somewhat paradoxically, the more acceptable management and lease contracts place heavy demands on governments, in terms of designing, negotiating, evaluating and enforcing them...The bottom line is that Africa has huge infrastructure needs that, for various reasons, are not being addressed the only way that is financially possible: with private money..."