PPP’s or Looting Public Pensions?
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba Wrote;
Minister of Infrastructure, Housing, and Urban Development, Charles Lubasi Milupi and Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane have prided themselves that infrastructure development would be done using a modern model that would spare the Treasury commitment of huge resources to long-term infrastructure.
They duo commissioned Public Private Partnership (PPP), a long time provision that has been established
To enhance private sector participation in infrastructure and service delivery, the Public-Private Partnership Act No. 18 of 2023 was passed to repeal the primary legislation governing PPPs, the 2009 Act.
But instead of the private sector bringing resources to the PPP’s as envisioned, we saw the projects being financed by the public pension houses and public road toll.
Take for example, the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriage Way, was primarily financed through the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and the Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB).
The Concessionaire, Macro Ocean Investment Consortium (MOIC-LN), which includes Chinese firms like AVIC International, Zhenjiang Communications, and China Railway Seventh Group obtained a 25-year concession to do the 327-kilometer projectproject valued at approximately US$649.97 million using public pension houses and public toll.
Similarly, the Ndola–Sakania–Mufulira Road and Border, a project valued at $76.1 million is a 22-year concession agreement with Jaswin Ports Limited.
Th Chingola–Chililabombwe–Kasumbalesa Road a major Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project designed to modernize a critical 35-kilometer economic corridor connecting the Copperbelt to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border, has been financed by Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board and public toll.
The project is managed by Turbo Kachin Consortium Limited (also referred to as Turbo Ka-chin Investment).
Similarly the height of the power shortage, President Hichilema convened a meeting to support the Maamba Power Second Phase Project.
Following an urgent meeting at State House, the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) announced that it would provide $200million in debt financing for the Phase II expansion of the Maamba Collieries coal power plant.
This project, aimed at increasing capacity by 300MW to ease load shedding, was part of a broader $400 million investment.
Of concern is the quality of the service delivered.
Another PPP project was the 100 MW Chisamba Solar PV project financed through a $100 million deal comprising 70% debt from Stanbic Bank Zambia ($71.5 million) and 30% government equity.
It was developed by a ZESCO subsidiary, Kariba North Bank Extension Power Corporation (KNBEPC) but the Offtaker is a middleman, GreenCo Power Services granted a power purchase agreement for 13 years.
The key feature of the project is dedicated supply of power to the mining giant,First Quantum Minerals.
In this case, ZESCO has borrowed money using its assets, and committed to sell the product to GreenCo for 13 years, who will sell to FQM for the same duration!
Milupi’s and Situmbeko’s PPPs are shoddy and reek corruption.
The new roads are showing rapid deterioration, and great but uncommon were and tear, revealing deep-seated concerns that the roads do not meet the 25-year quality.
The use of public pension funds (if these are profitable ventures, why have the private pension houses and private banks stayed away?) raises concerns as public funds are being used as conduits to fund the private sector to do public projects while all the huge profits and benefits go to the private sector!