Northern Corridor, a new frontier for opportunities to local ICT firms

In October 2015, the bustling city of Nairobi hosted the 11thHeads of State summit of the Northern Corridor Integration Project (NCIP). This high-level, bi-monthly meeting, attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan, was convened to review the progress of strategic regional infrastructure projects in the region. Away from the glare of mainstream media, and amid government speak, a momentous development for the Private Sector was finally unraveling; after several months of arduous deliberations, the Heads of State issued a directive for the institutionalization and actualization of the Northern Corridor Technology Alliance, (NCTA): a regional ICT sector alliance formed to champion the implementation of key ICT Projects within the NCIP. For a region whose infrastructure development has been heavily characterized by use of foreign expertise for seemingly trivial tasks as procurement of paper for national exams or bicycles for farmers, this is a feat- unparalleled in the scope and magnitude. One whose significance is only dwarfed by the opportunities it holds for the private sector. What started as a tripartite initiative between Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, to speed up the flow of cargo, and development in the railway and crude oil sectors, quickly evolved, culminating in a 50 per cent reduction in call rates across partner states - under the One Network Area; drastic improvements in transit time, from 16 days to under 5 days between Mombasa and Kampala, and the waiving of visa fees to name a few. Notwithstanding, all of these projects have hitherto been implemented directly by governments, whose modus operandi and funding sources all but guarantee foreign companies contracts, much to the detriment of local firms in the region. Recognising this imbalance and the potency of the private sector in the Northern Corridor infrastructure development agenda, the Heads of State, in an unprecedented moved opened the doors to private sector involvement at the 10th NCIP summit in Kampala, in June 2015. Since then, several sectors have responded to this invitation, but perhaps none more aggressively than the ICT Private Sector. Immediately following the NCIP directive, the ICT Private players from partner states met in Kigali on July 17, 2015 to formally launch NCTA. What is NCTA Incorporated in Rwanda, NCTA is anchored within the ICT Private Sector Apex Bodies of partner states (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan). NCTA activities are centrally coordinated by a 24-man Steering Committee consisting of six representatives from each partner country with a single chief coordinator, who feeds into NCIP. NCIP’s recognition of the MoU between partner states has enabled NCTA to send representation to all NCIP summits and also enabled NCTA to collaboratively prepare the MoU with NCIP, as well draft the Project Requirement Documents. Both these documents should be signed before the next Summit in Kampala, in the first quarter of 2016. NCTA’s value proposition is, firstly, to deliver earmarked ICT Project using local firms and expertise, secondly, to ensure that all implemented projects have bankable business models that can generate enough revenue to repay the initial project capitalization costs. This contrasts with government’s hitherto social-services model, where projects are financed through accrual of foreign debt, and repaid using tax payers’ money. What’s in it for local firms? Under the MoU signed by the private sector apex bodies in partner states, participating countries will each be assigned projects from a basket. More importantly, this means the partner countries could be able to mobilize competent companies within their borders to deliver on identified projects before the end of 2016. Under the framework of this MoU various firms in either one of these countries will have the opportunity to compete for more than US $500m worth tech projects available for implementation under a Public Private Partnership. Currently, e-Soko (trading platforms) has already been earmarked for implementation by Kenya. Similarly, e-Learning (knowledge management) has been allocated to Uganda while e-Immigration has been assigned to Rwanda. NCTA’s proposed structures include a board and a secretariat, with members drawn from the all partner states. In addition, NCTA will also adopt its own Project Management and Quality Control mechanisms to vet companies from the partner states- after which NCTA will recommend competent companies to the partner governments. In the same token, NCTA will also conduct feasibility studies where applicable and arrange appropriate financialmechanisms to fund the projects before making an actionablefinal recommendation to the government for contractual disbursements. In the very unlikely event that NCTA isn’t capable to deliver on a project with the existing local resources, it will revert to NCIP, to source for external consultants through NCIP’s mechanisms. The opportunities for local companies within the NCTA are huge and unprecedented, and careful planning is required to maximally utilize these opportunities. Companies should therefore find, and work with the ICT Sectors within their private sector apex bodies or directly talk to the NCTA secretariat to learn more on how they can be involved. The writer is the Chief Coordinator, NCTA. robert@nctalliance.org

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Northern Corridor, a new frontier for opportunities to local ICT firms