A Brief History on the establishment of Public Private Partnership Centre (PPP Centre)

The Public Private Partnership Act of 2010, Cap.103 established two units, namely; PPP Coordination Unit under the Ministry responsible for Investment and Private Sector Development and the PPP Finance Unit under the Ministry of Finance.

The PPP Act of 2010 set forth procedures requiring PPP projects prepared by contracting authorities to be submitted to the PPP Coordination Unit and the Finance Unit for analysis. The Coordination Unit was responsible for analyzing the submitted projects to determine if they met the criteria for implementation under the PPP framework, while the Finance Unit was responsible for analyzing the financial aspects of the projects submitted by the Coordination Unit.

In 2014, the government amended the PPP Act, Cap. 103, merging the two previously established units and establishes the PPP Centre as “One stop Centre “under the Office of the Prime Minister.

In 2018, the PPP Act Cap.103 was further amended shifting the responsibilities of the PPP Program from the Office of the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, thus relocating the PPP Centre from the Office of the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, where it remains till today.

The objectives of setting up PPP Centre as “one stop centre” include:

• To streamline promotion and co-ordination of all matters relating to the implementation of PPP program in the country;
• To make timely approvals hence minimizing processing time and eliminating duplication;  
• To provide the right direction to the contracting authorities and investors through creation of a one-stop PPP shop;
• To strengthen the PPP management and oversight role, so as to speed up implementation of development projects.

The operationalization of PPP Centre started in January, 2024.