Decades of underinvestment and mismanagement in Africa have resulted in poor performance across many areas, namely the power, rail, and road sectors. Less than 40 per cent of the population across the continent has access to electricity and electrification rates of less than 10 per cent are not uncommon in Sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 34 per cent of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities, and 35 per cent lack access to clean drinking water. 

The infrastructure deficit in Africa is sizable even compared to the deficits of other low income and developing regions. Tremendous opportunities for investment in infrastructure exist in the continent and the governments of many African countries are starting to take the types of actions that are required to turn their countries into desirable investment destinations. In many cases, the electricity sector is one that deservedly receives much of their attention.

It has been clear for some time that scaling up financing from the traditional sources of taxes, government borrowing, and aid will not be adequate to successfully address the infrastructure gap. Public-private partnerships (PPPs), which use private expertise and funding to construct, operate, and maintain infrastructure and deliver public services, are one of the solutions African governments are turning towards to solve this deficit. Yet, such projects need to overcome a range of challenges to ensure that they are well structured, deliver value for money, and transfer operational risk to the private sector.