Preparing Bankable Infrastructure Projects for Zimbabwe, And Doing So With A Vision

The sponsor would, therefore, need to commission a market study of projected demand over the expected life of the project By Michael Tichareva As the Zimbabwean economy recovers under the 5-year National Development Plan 1 following a largely successful but painful implementation of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, the country needs to be ready for major infrastructure development in the years to come. This requires the country to develop the relevant skills among its people for infrastructure development and financing. Over many years of experience on project financing, we have witnessed poor project preparation as one of the main reasons for slow infrastructure rollout in many countries. Project sponsors need to assemble a competent and experienced team to prepare a bankable project. It can easily take several years to prepare a bankable project, and it can cost anywhere between 5% and 10% of total project costs. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Feasibility studies A bankable project must have a solid technical and financial feasibility study prepared by a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, finance experts, quantity surveyors, project managers, legal advisors, lawyers and environmental specialists depending on the nature and complexity of the project. A project feasibility study considers