Joint-ventures and other forms of cooperation for the development of the transport market on Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika

Abstract

The study's terms of reference, which were approved in March 1986 by ECA/MULPOC and CEPGL authorities, brought the former's complexity to the fore. A decision was, therefore, made to set up an ad-hoc task force which would, in collaboration with the SEP/CEPGL and ECA/MULPOC, be responsible for conducting the study and following up on the project's implementation. The task force, a standing committee of national officials responsible for transport on Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika (COPTRALAC) was established in May 1986. Therefore, in March 1993 the ECA/MULPOC organized, within the framework of COPTRALAC and in close collaboration with the SEP/CEPGL, a sub regional seminar on the project for the creation of a joint CEPGL transport company to serve Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika. Item (V) of the recommendation adopted on that occasion called for the organization of a seminar for the sensitization of potential CEPGL operators interested in forming a joint-enterprise, in other words selling the CEPGL project idea to private operators. Just as the study was about to be launched after a lengthy search for funding, new developments prompted by national policies of liberalization (privatization) and by certain prerequisites to Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) necessitated a review of the already approved terms of reference.