PPP best way for port of Mombasa and others

Over several months now stakeholders have made varied suggestions on the best way to manage the major ports in the country, chief of which is the Mombasa port. The President had made unequivocal commitment that the port will not be privatized as had been suggested before but would be run through concession and lease arrangements, which are some of the main models of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Privatization has been attempted and undertaken in many places globally and in many sectors, but it was found to be problematic because some services and goods would not be fully effectively distributed through private sectors either because of the profitability levels, the politics involved in such a model, the need for state presence in some strategic assets like the ports and airports and the need for fair coverage and spread of the services and goods of particular nature throughout the concerned country.

Many countries have turned to the use of PPPs because of many reasons. First is the increased acceptance of public sector management reforms, including the New Public Management theories (NPM), which seeks to run governments on businesses ethos. Secondly are the fiscal pressures that have engulfed the public sector since the global financial crisis keeps recurring. Thirdly are the insufficient investments in infrastructure by stakeholders; fourthly the inability of public sector to meet the many demands for modern service and goods provision; fifth is the concerns on the level and quality of services offered by public sector. This is because some goods and services provided solely by public sector have been found to be inadequate, inaccessible and unaffordable to the majority of the citizens. This has formed the decision to work with the private sector in such projects who possess the skills and abilities needed for immense resource mobilization for large infrastructural projects; have potential of lessening the overall government financial burdens; and have the knowledge and technology for provision of quality and superior facilities than the public sector.

Utilization of PPPs in the ports business is not privatization and will lead to balanced delivery mechanism between the public and private entities, where the government can strategically achieve their infrastructural needs without using considerable budgets. The extra funds saved for the public sector through PPP transactions can be used in other critical sectors, which might not be profitable for private players. under PPPs, the government continues to own the assets which are developed in the process; the private sector gains access to government procurement opportunities for long term periods than is common with traditional procurement methods, which guarantee stable incomes in the foreseeable future. Dr Giti is an urban management, public – private partnerships (PPP) and environment specialist. mutegigiti@gmail.com , @danielgiti