African Legal Support Facility’s private entity framework joins the list of Facility services to beneficiaries

Development costs are an integral part of all infrastructure projects and their importance is accentuated for African governments that do not necessarily have available funding to cover them. Thus, they are often faced with a conundrum: whether or not to accept private funds to cover development costs such as the cost of legal services for the negotiation of the project agreements. Generally, project developers are keen to contribute as government advisors significantly ease the development of the project. However, governments seldom accept funds from private parties or that developers pay directly their legal costs as it inevitably implicates ethical questions of impartiality of counsel, and conflict of interests if government is to have their legal advisors for example, paid with funds from project developers.

It is with this context in mind that the ALSF has developed a Private Entity Funding Framework which allows private entities to provide earmarked funding for specific projects’ legal costs directly to the ALSF on behalf of an African government. The ALSF in turn sets up a mechanism for managing the funding, procures, manages, and pays legal advisors. This allows for the project to remain uninterrupted due to underfunded legal costs, and maintains developers at an arm’s length.

The Private Entity Funding Framework is the ALSF’s latest tool to support African governments’ project implementation while maintaining the integrity of the Project. For more information of the Framework, please contact Africanlegalsupportfacility@afdb.org.

About the ALSF

Created by the African Development Bank in 2010, the ALSF supports governments in negotiating complex commercial transactions, providing legal and technical assistance in public-private partnership projects across the oil and gas, mining and energy sectors, and covering sovereign debt issues and creditor litigation.

Contact us

Eve Ehoura, Communication Officer: e.ehoura@afdb.org

Gadi Taj Ndahumba, Head of Power Sector: g.ndahumba@afdb.org