The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, has urged West African governments to expand the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to address the region’s infrastructure deficit, saying public finances alone can no longer meet growing investment needs.

Speaking at the ECOWAS Infrastructure Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Ewalefoh said governments must create transparent regulatory frameworks and develop bankable projects to attract private capital for roads, railways, housing, water and other critical infrastructure.

He said PPPs provided an alternative to traditional public procurement by allowing governments to mobilise private financing, technical expertise and innovation while sharing project risks with investors.

Ewalefoh said governments should also encourage well-regulated unsolicited PPP proposals to complement projects initiated through the conventional procurement process. He noted that such proposals enable private investors to identify infrastructure needs, finance project development and assume the risks associated with project preparation.

He said unsolicited proposals do not replace government procurement but expand the pipeline of projects, particularly where governments lack the resources to undertake project preparation.

The framework includes eligibility requirements, the Swiss Challenge procurement method, application fees and performance bonds to ensure that only viable projects proceed.

Ewalefoh also called on development partners to devote more resources to project preparation, arguing that the shortage of bankable infrastructure projects remains a major constraint to investment across Africa.

He advocated stronger cooperation among ECOWAS member states through a regional network of PPP institutions to improve technical capacity, harmonise project appraisal standards and strengthen collaboration on cross-border infrastructure projects.

Representatives of Ghana, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire also participated in the panel, sharing their countries’ experiences with PPPs.

The forum agreed that greater private sector participation would be critical to narrowing West Africa’s infrastructure financing gap and accelerating infrastructure development across the sub-region.