A three-day practical technical conference dubbed Project Finance 2019 aimed at equipping both the private and public sector prepare good documents to access global funds across continents is underway in Accra.
The event organised by Trustwork Oakbuild International Limited (TWOBIL) in partnership with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) is also designed to address the challenges of paying back finances received from international funding agencies.
The event brought together participants drawn from public and private sector organisations, companies and industries in Ghana, as well as from Africa and the International Business and Investment Community to share best practices, expertise, technological innovations and provide a perfect opportunity to showcase business innovations and achievements.
Speaking at the event the Board Chair of TWOBIL, Kofi Obeng-Ayirebi said it was time for Africans to join the race in sourcing for funds in the international market to fund various projects whether private or public to bridge the infrastructure development gap.
He said the developed world had used this vehicle over the years to attract the needed financial resources for their various infrastructural projects adding that “the time has come now for us in Africa to rise because we cannot sit and always expect to be given handouts.”
He indicated that project documentation was very critical because for Ghana to access the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), it took the government three years to put its document together, pointing out the importance of documentation and the processes one had to go through to access funds.
Mr Obeng-Ayirebi said some big players in the industry were using the same mechanism to raise funds in order to develop and fund their projects adding that it was time Ghana and Africa benefitted from the international financing.
The Director of Technical Services at TWOBIL, Emmanuel Tweneboah Senzu said for many years it had been difficult for the private sector to access funding stating that governments were able to access such funds due to the sovereign guarantee backing it and not due to the merit of their documentation.
He said the challenge of the developing economies was that the economic market was not independent of itself to speak in terms of the indicators in fiscal management.
Mr Senzu said the reason for the difficulty in accessing funds by the private sector was that investors prefer to look at how government was managing the credibility in its administration to base it as an indicator to judge the private sector.
“It always has to be as if government has to maneuver in favour of the private sector but in the developed economy, the private sectors are operating free market independent of itself and they speak on authority,” he added.
He urged participants to take advantage of the conference to create partnerships and share ideas on how to source for funding to develop the infrastructure sector of their economies.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
