Industry for concerted effort in tourism growth
By Chimwemwe Mangazi:
The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) has called on the government and private sector players to join hands in growing the country’s tourism sector.
The chamber says through the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement, government institutions would work together with private sector players.
The BOT arrangement is a form of project financing where a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, own and operate a facility stated in the concession contract.
Speaking on the sidelines of the third Malawi International Tourism Expo (MITE) in Lilongwe, MCCCI President, Prince Kapondamgaga, said creation of an enabling environment would spar the sector’s growth.
“Government plays a critical role of creating an enabling environment where the private sector can also access finance and put up an infrastructure, operate for a reasonable number of years and transfer that to government which finds a manager for the facility, this is happening in Malawi but at a small scale under the Public Private Partnership (PPPs) Commission,” Kapondamgaga said.
In an earlier interview, Director of Tourism in the Ministry of Industry Trade and Tourism, Isaac Katopola, said, over the years, the government has realised that PPPs have the potential to significantly contribute towards investment in the sector.
He said, the government was building capacity among civil servants in departments under the under the Promoting Investment and Competitiveness in the Tourism Sector Project to better negotiate PPP deals.
“Inadequate investment is one of the challenges we have been facing in the tourism sector. We have a lot of tourism attraction centres that lack adequate facilities,” Katopola said.
