- The 2nd Dakar Financing summit For Africa’s Infrastructure Development has opened in the Senegalese capital with sixty-nine infrastructure projects worth $160 billion on showcase.
- The 69 projects, which come from all five of Africa’s regions, are being implemented by regional bodies and unions, including ECOWAS, COMESA and SADC.
The 2nd Dakar Financing summit For Africa’s Infrastructure Development has opened in the Senegalese capital with sixty-nine infrastructure projects worth $160 billion on showcase. African heads of government, the African Development Bank, development finance institutions, and institutional investors will gather to draw the modalities for pushing the projects to completion by 2030. The African Union Development Agency and the Government of Senegal are co-hosting the summit. The 69 projects fall under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a blueprint for infrastructure development to increase Africa’s competitiveness and economic integration. PIDA’s Priority Action Plan 2 was adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2021.
On Thursday, February 2, African Development Bank Group Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, participated in a roundtable discussion involving President Macky Sall of Senegal, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. The discussion, titled Financing Africa’s Infrastructure Priorities under PIDA PAP 2, included Afreximbank President and Chairman, Prof. Benedict Oramah. The bank delegation included Ambassador Modibo Touré, Amadou Hott, special envoy of the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA) and Mike Salawou Ag. Director, Infrastructure & Urban Development.
Amadou Hott participated in a session on exploring financing solutions for energy. The projects discussed cover all five African regions. The 69 projects, which come from all five of Africa’s regions, are being implemented by regional bodies and unions, including ECOWAS, COMESA and SADC.
They include:
• The Transborder Submarine Fiber point of presence and Regional Smart Hub Facility and Data centre project will provide ICT connectivity to 285 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
• The Gambia River Basin Development Organization Energy Project (OMVG Energy Project), which involves 4 countries: Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. It focuses particularly on the rational management of the pooled resources of Rivers Gambia, Kayanga-Géba and Koliba-Corubal, whose basins have power-generating potential.
• The Baynes Hydropower project, an energy project that will benefit Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The list of all the projects can be found here: https://pp2.au-pida.org/approved-projects/