For an investment of 160 billion dollars, the five regions of the continent will benefit from projects under the Programme on Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).By Ibrahima Dione
The African Summit on Infrastructure Financing opened on Thursday, and ended on Friday in Senegal.
Through the course of the meeting, President Macky Sall, heads of state of the continent, but also technical and financial partners have reflected on the mechanisms for effective implementation of all projects.
Among these is “the cross-border submarine fibre optic point of presence project, as well as the regional intelligent centre and data centre project, which will provide ICT connectivity to 285 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda,” the African Development Bank (ADB) said in a statement.
The financial institution also cited the energy project of the Organisation for the Development of the Gambia River (OMVG) involving The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.
It focuses on the rational management of the shared resources of The Gambia, Kayanga-Géba and Koliba-Corubal rivers, whose basins have the potential to generate electricity.
Finally, the ADB mentioned “the Baynes hydropower project which will benefit Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.”
Overall, US$160 billion will be needed to implement 69 infrastructure projects by 2030 through the PIDA, a joint initiative of the AU Commission, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordination Agency and the AfDB.
The PIDA Priority Action Plan 2, aimed at increasing Africa’s competitiveness and economic integration, was adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2021.
