Government will this month launch a national Public Private Partnership (PPP) legal framework with an aim to draw investors into infrastructure projects and government enterprises widely seen as a fiscal drag.

PPP's were first introduced in 1998 to fund infrastructure and public services after government's commitments to the projects through the Public Service Investment Fund fell precipitously as a result of structural adjustment programmes.

Addressing an Infrastructure Development Forum on Wednesday last week, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said the country plans to commercialise some enterprises and privatise others through PPPs to forestall bankruptcies.

Under the proposed framework, the private sector would farm into the projects and state-owned enterprises with capital, technology and the human capital with government concentrating on infrastructure provision.

Government last year produced an investor prospectus, which listed projects and investment opportunities in several key sectors, including electricity generation, transport, water and Information Communication Technology.

The framework, developed from a PPP policy document of 2004, proffers a number of PPP arrangements such as Build Operate Transfer (BOT), Build Operate Own (BOO) and Rehabilitate Operate Transfer.