African countries have expressed interest in replicating Nigeria’s Renewed Hope Housing public-private partnership model to improve affordable housing delivery across the continent.

Jobson Ewalefoh, director-general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), presented the model at the Second Forum for Public-Private Partnership Units in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to a statement on Monday.

The statement said the forum, held at the Africa Hall of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), attracted delegations from 36 countries. It said UNECA, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) co-organised the forum under the theme ‘Making Social Sector PPPs Work: From Policy Ambition to Effective Service Delivery’.

It said the event built on the inaugural edition held in 2024, which brought together more than 30 African PPP units to discuss climate-resilient infrastructure.

“This year’s forum brought together heads of PPP units, development finance institutions, private operators and transaction advisers to explore how PPPs could support affordable housing, healthcare, education, sanitation and water supply.

“Participants examined ways to ensure that social infrastructure projects remained financially sustainable, affordable and accountable, particularly because they often generated insufficient revenue from user fees to repay private investors,” the statement explained.

The statement said the two-day forum featured a Leaders’ Dialogue, thematic breakout sessions and project clinics focusing on risk allocation, availability payments, viability gap funding, subnational PPP models and contract management.

It said the project clinics gave PPP units opportunities to present ongoing social sector projects, share experiences and seek expert advice on implementation challenges.

Nigeria is among five countries that presented projects at the clinics, alongside Malawi, Kenya, Djibouti and Côte d’Ivoire.

(NAN)