ABOUT US$250 billion is required to construct and improve physical infrastructure in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, director of budget and finance Dev Haman has said.

This would ease the cost of doing business in the region.

COMESA covers 19 member states including Zambia with a population of more than 400 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about $345 billion.

With an annual import bill of around $202 billion and an export bill of $189 billion, COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external business players.

Mr Haman said it was clear that the magnitude of required resources to develop infrastructure ($250 billion) could not be mobilised by Governments alone.

COMESA has therefore embraced the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in the development and upgrading of the region's infrastructure.

Mr Haman said this in Livingstone at the just ended join annual business conference hosted by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).