Grants worth $5.3 million from the African Development Bank have been sanctioned to bolster private investments in four African countries.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a grant of $5.3 million to implement the Project to Strengthen the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Environment for The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, and Togo. This project is financed by the Bank’s Transition Support Facility (TSF) under Pillar III.
The project is designed to catalyze private investment in these four countries, which are facing challenges in their PPP environments. The TSF, created in 2008, provides additional concessional resources to countries in fragile and conflict situations.
The project consists of three components:
- Strengthening the PPP Environment: This component aims to create a more coherent and attractive framework for private sector engagement by operationalising institutional PPP structures and building capacity among public stakeholders. The goal is to equip contracting authorities with the skills to structure and negotiate balanced PPP contracts effectively.
- Enhancing Private Sector Participation: Focused primarily on engaging local businesses, this part provides practical case studies to familiarise PPP stakeholders with the project cycle stages using tools developed in the first component. It encourages the local private sector to actively participate in PPP projects.
- Project Management and Oversight: The initiative establishes a dedicated management unit to ensure smooth implementation, effective oversight, and sustainable outcomes for the PPP projects. This unit will provide strategic and operational oversight by the authorities.
The project aligns with the three pillars of the strategic framework for public-private partnerships, contributing to the full operationalisation of this framework by improving the regulatory and institutional environment for PPPs, enhancing local private sector participation, and strengthening project management capacity and implementation.
For instance, in Togo, the project supports consolidating the reform-oriented PPP legal and operational framework, especially in infrastructure, energy, and public services. In The Gambia, it targets tapping private capital to address infrastructure gaps and spur growth, while also building skills among local businesses for engaging in PPPs.
By combining capacity building, regulatory improvements, practical local business engagement, and strong implementation oversight, the project aims to promote private investment in the four specified countries through public-private partnerships. The project was approved on 27 June 2025 in Abidjan.
[1] African Development Bank Group. (n.d.). Project to Strengthen the Public-Private Partnership Environment for The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, and Togo. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/en/projects-and-operations/project/project-to-strengthen-the-public-private-partnership-environment-for-the-gambia-guinea-bissau-madagascar-and-togo-2
[2] African Development Bank Group. (n.d.). Strengthening the Public-Private Partnership Environment in Four African Countries. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-features/strengthening-the-public-private-partnership-environment-in-four-african-countries
[3] African Development Bank Group. (n.d.). Transition Support Facility. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/private-sector-infrastructure-and-industrialisation/transition-support-facility
[4] Solomon Quaynor, Vice President of the African Development Bank Group (Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation), stated that the project will enable the Bank to build on its ongoing efforts to strengthen the business environment and promote the private sector in the four countries.
The African Development Bank Group's project, implemented in The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, and Togo, will facilitate private investment through a strengthened public-private partnership (PPP) environment. This project, funded by the Transition Support Facility (TSF), will primarily focus on infrastructure, energy, and public services in Togo, aiming to spur growth by tapping private capital and improving the PPP legal and operational framework. Additionally, the project will involve enhancing local business participation in PPPs in The Gambia, providing them with the necessary skills to engage effectively and attract private finance for infrastructure development.
