Harare — There is need to invest in infrastructure development through public-private partnerships to turn around Zimbabwe's economic fortunes, Vice President Joice Mujuru said yesterday.

Addressing delegates at the opening of the Infrastructural Development Forum in Harare, VP Mujuru said partnerships were critical for economic growth.

"Our situation is unique and needs extraordinary efforts to extricate ourselves from this vicious cycle. This demands us to have a policy shift and hence the move towards private-public partnerships. Concepts such as build-operate-transfer; build-own-operate; and rehabilitate-operate-transfer are now common language the world over," she said.

VP Mujuru said projects like the dualisation of the Harare-Masvingo-Chirundu and Harare-Gweru-Bulawayo highways were examples of such partnerships.

She said Government was working on policy reforms to facilitate private sector participation in road construction and maintenance. VP Mujuru said: "There are numerous investment opportunities in the rail sector.

"These can be in form of BOT concessions or joint ventures and these include Harare-Chitungwiza rail system, Chinhoyi-Lions Den-Kafue, Harare-Nyamapanda, Kadoma-Sengwa, Mvuma-Mutare, Utundla-Kwekwe among others." She urged Government departments to operationalise transparent investment policies that enabled economic growth.

Economic Planning and Investment Planning Deputy Minister Samuel Undenge said: "Infrastructure has deteriorated significantly over the past decade, resulting in lack of sufficient and reliable infrastructure services across all sectors, a development that constrained the recovery of the economy."