Excellent presentation from Antonio Estache. The biggest question when it comes to Private Financing in Africa is how can the cost of financing for Infrastructure projects be reduced to ensure a fair or affordable average tariff???. Even when the risks on investing in Africa have been by far reduced compared to America or Europe, Private Investors tend to demand higher returns on Investment from African Governments or Co Investors, which ends up killing the deals.
We are one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, owning and operating assets across the utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure sectors.
Referring to financing mechanisms across the different phases of the project cycle, I find it difficult to understand how private financing is appropriate in the preparation phase. The main aim of private investments are returns and the private investor doesn’t can’t get a return on investment in the preparation phase. My view is that preparation of bankable projects need to come from public funds that would catalyze private investment in the construction and hopefully operation phase. Public financing can be used to also derisk the investment environment.
