RESOURCES/FEATURED STORIES

PPIAF Supports Public-Private Partnerships in Kenya

03 November 2020
PPIAF Supports Public-Private Partnerships in Kenya
Kenya is one of Africa’s success stories—it has a dynamic private sector, a highly-skilled workforce, and has implemented significant political, structural, and economic reforms that have driven economic growth and social development.   But challenges remain, and in 2008, President Mwai Kibaki launched Vision 2030 to accelerate Kenya’s transformation into a newly industrialized, middle-income country by 2030 when the global Sustainable Development Goals are due to be met. Accomplishing this vision will require addressing pressing issues, including weak private sector investment,

Kenya is one of Africa’s success stories—it has a dynamic private sector, a highly-skilled workforce, and has implemented significant political, structural, and economic reforms that have driven economic growth and social development.  

But challenges remain, and in 2008, President Mwai Kibaki launched Vision 2030 to accelerate Kenya’s transformation into a newly industrialized, middle-income country by 2030 when the global Sustainable Development Goals are due to be met.

Accomplishing this vision will require addressing pressing issues, including weak private sector investment, which has constrained economic growth and job creation in the country.

PPIAF’s role

To help address this lack of private sector investment in key sectors in Kenya, the government established the Kenya Public-Private Partnership Unit in 2013. The PPP unit is a specialized unit within the National Treasury managing a PPP project pipeline in various sectors, including education, energy, health, housing, industry, manufacturing, and water.

The World Bank’s engagement in Kenya supports the Vision 2030 agenda. As part of these World Bank Group efforts, PPIAF began providing significant support for PPP development in Kenya in June 2018 under its PPP Support Program. As part of this program, PPIAF worked with the government and the World Bank to develop the legal and institutional foundation for PPPs, develop a project pipeline, and support the development of Kenya’s Governance and Operating Manual for the PPP Project Facilitation Fund (PFF).

Over the two-year program, PPIAF helped strengthen the capacity of the PPP Unit and other state and local authorities by supporting a PPP certification program. We also funded the development of Kenya’s PPP disclosure portal, which provides detailed information to the public about projects being developed.

PPIAF also supported the development of the framework for managing fiscal commitments and contingent liabilities to enable national and local institutions to manage and report on government fiscal obligations under PPPs effectively and transparently.

PPIAF’s support to Kenya’s PPP unit came to a close in 2020, and as of March, 80 PPP projects have been approved and are in development under the PPP Unit, including 63 initiated by the national government, 11 under sub-national governments, and 6 projects proposed by the private sector.

This support has led to a solid PPP framework and increased capacity of the PPP Unit. Contracting authorities are successfully identifying and processing PPP projects. As of December 2019, the private sector has invested nearly $99 million in infrastructure projects in Kenya and potential projects valued at more than $5 billion have been identified.

PPIAF’s efforts are not only supporting Vision 2030 in Kenya, but are also helping deliver on the World Bank’s Infrastructure Finance and Public-Private Partnership Project (IFPPP). Currently, the World Bank is implementing 48 projects, of which about one-third are infrastructure-related, with support totaling $90 million under IFPPP helping mobilize $98 million in private investment.