Lean Africa inks deal with British advisory company PPP Solutions

Road under construction. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By CHARLES MWANIKI
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Summary

• The two firms are eyeing a larger slice of advisory services for private public partnership (PPP) projects in the country and the wider East African region.
• PPP Solutions, which offers similar services across the UK and other parts of the world, will also partner with the local firm in offering training to young graduates in project finance and PPPs.

Kenyan project finance advisory firm Lean Africa Consultants Limited has signed a partnership agreement with British firm PPP Solutions to widen its footprint in the region amid growing preference for private financing of public projects.

The two firms are eyeing a larger slice of advisory services for private public partnership (PPP) projects in the country and the wider East African region.

PPP Solutions, which offers similar services across the UK and other parts of the world, will also partner with the local firm in offering training to young graduates in project finance and PPPs.

“The partnership will build synergies that will efficiently address the gaps in the African market in both the public and private sectors…offering solutions that will unlock the potential of the region to attract financing especially in the infrastructure sector,” said Lean Africa Consultants chief executive officer Johnson Mwawasi.

PPP Solutions director David Wright told Business Daily that the firm hopes to leverage on Lean Africa’s local knowledge, while bringing in the experience it has gathered over the 18 years it has been in operation.

Kenya is increasingly looking at the PPP model to finance large, capital intensive public projects in the transport and energy sectors. The government has turned to this option due to concerns over rising public debt levels, with the PPP model allowing the private sector to invest in the projects and recoup the capital over time without the funds adding up on the public debt register.

The ongoing construction of the Nairobi Expressway which runs from Mlolongo to the James Gichuru Road junction is the most visible PPP project currently underway. China Road and Bridge Construction (CRBC), which is building the project, will recover its outlay from toll charges.