Infrastructure is essential to the growth and development of any economy. Yet, a funding gap exists for building and maintaining infrastructure, particularly in low-to-middle-income countries in Africa. The current consensus is that the most sustainable model for infrastructure development would be to increase private sector participation in the development and delivery of important infrastructure, especially through public-private partnerships (“P3”). At its core, P3 involves the use of private investors’ funds, as well as technical and managerial expertise to finance (by way of debt, equity or hybrid forms), construct, operate and maintain public infrastructure.
Zircon Strategy’s NEXTGEN Africa™ provides legal brokerage and advisory services for select P3 offerings directly authourised by national and sub-national governments in Africa, based on a diversity of collaboration structures such as build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT); build-own-operate (BOO); build-transfer (BT); and build-own-transfer (BOT). In relation to brownfield projects i.e. infrastructure which are already in existence but require restoration or upgrade, typical structures are either rehabilitate-operate-transfer (ROT) or rehabilitate-own-operate-transfer (ROOT).
We provide legal support to structure the transactions for the P3 parties, undertake due diligences, and identify and allocate the project risks, utilising a diversified bouquet of risk mitigation and transfer mechanisms. Such legal risks include sponsor risk; completion/construction risks; operational risks; approvals, regulatory and environmental risks; market, offtake and sales risks; counterparty risks; and political risks.
You may browse through the list of authourised P3 projects below and complete the accompanying form to register your interest to undertake the project, as a private sector participant.