Stakeholders in Africa met in Cairo, Egypt to examine the progress in the reconstruction, rehabilitation and development of crossborder infrastructure across the continent, Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon, who was there, reports.
AFRICAN leaders and experts at different fora have underscored the essence of building massive national, regional and intercontinental infrastructure to connect countries within the continent with each other to enhance development, free movement of people and trading. To achieve this dream, during the 18th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Summit, African Heads of State and Government adopted Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) as a strategic framework for regional infrastructure. Since its inception in 2015, PIDA Week has evolved and grown to become the flagship advocacy and marketing event for infrastructure growth in the continent. It was formed to drive Africa’s aspirations for infrastructure growth in line with Agenda 2063. The annual event aims to promote the effective delivery of infrastructure on the continent, a key cornerstone for Africa’s development and to foster connections between infrastructure and multi-sectoral development. The 2019 edition held in Cairo, Egypt, did not disappoint on the threshold set since assumption of the week.
The event was attended by ministers, leaders and officials and delegates from organising and partners institutions, the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD), the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the other African Union member states.
Others include the Regional Economic Communities, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the German Cooperation, the European Union (EU), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), private sector representatives, other distinguished invitees and members of the media. In all, no fewer than 700 delegates from across the continent and beyond attended this year’s PIDA Week, which was held under the theme: “Positioning Africa to deliver on Agenda 2063 and economic integration through multi-sectoral approaches to infrastructure development”.
The rationale behind the week
In his opening remarks at the event, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), who spoke on the rationale behind PIDA Week and its objective, said the programme and its associated instruments have enabled the continent to make remarkable progress in the reconstruction, rehabilitation and development of infrastructure.
He noted that African countries need greater regional and cross-border integration as well as cooperation to bridge the continent’s infrastructure needs put at between $130–$170 billion a year. The financing gap for the required infrastructure needs was put at between $68–$108 billion.
According to Mayaki, progress has been registered over the entire landscape of infrastructure – from hardware developments on road and railway transport, power – including renewable energy, and ICT, to software enhancements in regulatory practices and regimes, policies, systems – such as one-stop border post monitoring systems, and human skills and capacities.
He said: “This is not another conference, not another ordinary week. This is for you, stakeholders in the Infrastructure development space, to own and significantly contribute to change the lives of millions of Africans. As this responsibility has been bestowed upon us, we shouldn’t take this lightly when we engage in the various sessions throughout the week.”
Through the transformation involved by PIDA, Mayaki said Africa’s geography is changing “and the borders are fading more and more, contributing to building stronger ties between countries through trade, and therefore making them see the economic costs of war with their neighbouring countries. PIDA humbly contributes, to foster peace and change the landscape of Africa”.
Financing of cross-border infrastructure projects and public-private partnership
On the fringe of the week-long conference, the AU and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) at Continental Business Network (CBN) meeting urged African countries to boost investments in cross-border infrastructure projects to drive continental integration and growth.
According to Mayaki, financing of cross-border infrastructure projects “is a key driver for progress and acceleration of Africa’s regional integration”. The AUDA-NEPAD chief also emphasised that a stronger public-private partnership could hasten the investment in these regional projects. Mayaki argued that the significance of cross-border infrastructure projects was to spur regional integration in Africa. He listed some of the achievements of some African countries in areas of undertaking such projects.
Some of such infrastructure projects, according to him, are Abidjan – Grand Bassam Missing Road Links Upgrade Road Côte d’Ivoire (30%); Abidjan – Lagos Corridor Highway – Upgrade Road between Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo (65%); Agona Junction – Alubo Road (17%); Elubo/ Noe One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) (30%); Godomey – Pahou Road (22%); and Hillacondji-Sanveekondji OSBP -Upgrade Border Post between Benin and Togo (57%).
Other projects are Kraké/ Sémé Badagry – upgraded border post between Benin and Nigeria; Noépé OSBP Upgrade Border Post between Ghana and Togo (43%); Ouidah/Hillacondji/Sanveekondji in Togo (43%) and Abidjan – Ouagadougou Narrow Gauge Railway (Burkina Fasso section); the Ruzizi III Hydropower Dam on the Ruzizi River along the borders of Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC), Burundi and Rwanda, and the Nigeria-Algeria Gas Pipeline Project (Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline).
The AUDA-NEPAD chief said more than 60 per cent of infrastructure projects in Africa are funded publicly, stressing that the know-how that was built-in financing national projects could be leveraged in financing regional projects. Also, data from the UNECA show that “infrastructure development in Africa can potentially raise GDP by two per cent and develop the backbone for rapid industrialisation, boosting the capacity to generate more domestic resources”. The continent was also urged to augment the investments in infrastructure development in Africa to achieve major continental development aspirations. But investment experts from Africa and their counterparts from development partners weighed the possibility of sourcing about $500 billion from pension funds. This is aim at bridging the revenue gap available to the continent’s governments to develop infrastructure projects.
The idea behind the new thinking is to increase funding of infrastructure projects from 1.4 per cent to five per cent by cornering pension funds to “a pipeline of bankable projects”. The experts also looked into the possibility of getting funding from the national sovereign funds.
PAP1 of the continental agenda
Under PAP1 of the continental agenda, the AU body focused on over 400 projects, including 54 energy projects (hydropower plants and interconnectors), 236 transport projects,114 for the ICT sector and nine transboundary water projects. The energy projects include 10 hydropower plants of over 22 gigawatts capacity, notably the Inga-3, which is under negotiation for financing and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction. The infrastructure projects identified in PIDA require investments of $360 billion by 2040.
Of the $81.6 billion invested, 42.1 per cent came from national governments, 23.8 per cent came from China, and 24.1 per cent came from bilateral donors, multilateral agencies and African institutions. The private sector accounted for just 2.8 per cent. However, Robert Lisinge, Chief of Energy, Infrastructure and Services Section at the ECA, emphasised the importance of harmonising policies, laws and regulations relating to infrastructure investment.
A representative of the African Import-Export Bank noted that the bank has been working on capacity building, and de-risking mechanism, which is key to unlocking capital. The bank is working with 51 out of the 54 member states to enhance funding for infrastructure projects. The representative of the European Union (EU), Mrs. Carla Montesi, reaffirmed the commitment of the EU in supporting Africa’s regional economic integration and infrastructure growth. Motensi said the EU has provided one billion euro for energy, transport and ICT development projects per year in the past last seven years. The need to bridge the financing gap is still present, she said.
More work to be done
The AU-NEPAD CEO, however, warned that more work has to be done in building and financing more cross-border infrastructure. Mayaki said as part of the infrastructural gap, the African Development Bank estimates that more than 640 million Africans have no access to energy, giving an electricity access rate for African countries at just over 40 per cent — the world’s lowest. “Per capita consumption of energy in Sub- Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) is 180 kWh, against 13,000 kWh per capita in the United States and 6,500 kWh in Europe. He reminded delegates of the importance of accountability and political will to transform Africa’s infrastructure.
Taking PIDA programmes to the next stage: PIDA II
In the course of the one week, many sessions were also held to drive the continent’s infrastructure growth and they included a session on: “Energy Frameworks and Initiatives contributing to PIDA PAP 2: Harmonised Regulatory Framework of Electricity Market in Africa” and “African Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI)”. The rapporteur for the session was Ahid Maeresera. AREI is a transformative initiative founded and led by Africa to accelerate, intensify and use the continent’s huge potential in renewable energy sources. The initiative focuses on developing integrated solutions in increasing access to clean energy services, improving human well-being and putting African countries on the path to sustainable and climate-friendly development.
At the launch of the initiative in 2015, AREI sought to achieve 10GW renewable energy generation capacity by 2020 and at least 300GW by 2030. Given that the renewable energy sector is fast-moving in terms of technology, costs or business models, the session declared that there was an urgent need to act in a united, concrete and pragmatic way to realise its set objectives.
The session through a presentation outlined the AREI Vision as an African policy initiative for Africa by Africans; a forum where Africa meets around Renewable Energy and where Africa shares its experience and success stories; a platform where Africa defines Renewable Energy goals and plans for its future sustainable development through provision of clean energy; and a conduit through which African countries and Renewable Energy developers can find advice, support and solutions.
Other sessions included “Partners Energy Initiatives Toward PIDA PAP 2; “Sustainable Energy Investments (SEI) Platform”; “AEEP Renewable Energy Projects in PIDA PAP 2”; “New energy projects: Solar, Small Hydro, and the Small Island States.
Also included were: “The PIDA Quality Label: Bridging the gap between infrastructure project sponsors and PPFs; “PIDA Job Creation Toolkit: Breaking Barriers to Create Local Employment through Infrastructure (Launch of the PIDA Job Creation Toolkit)”; “Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa”; and “Managing Risk to encourage private sector engagement and investment in infrastructure development.
On “Managing Risk to encourage Private Sector Engagement and Investment in Infrastructure Development”, the session’s message was that the demand for infrastructure finance is far greater than supply and that the private sector still invests less in Africa’s infrastructure relative to other geographical regions. The reason for this, it noted, is the real or perceived “Risk/Return” profile of the African infrastructure assets relative to other regions or other assets within Africa competing for private sector investment. This session drew synergy from Session 8: “Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa” that provided evidence of private sector contributions to infrastructure and the trends for the last 10 years.
The delegates also discussed “Common African strategy for infrastructure partnerships with non-African countries and organisations”. The launch of the African Network for Women in Infrastructure (ANWIn) was also held during the event.
Recommendations
At the end of the one-week event, the delegates said infrastructure development should serve for social and industrial development across the continent. All the economic sectors, they said, should be considered through a multi-sector approach of infrastructure development as framed in the PIDA PAP 2 Integrated Corridor approach. They harped on harmonisation and coordination with a bottom-up approach, which they said it’s critical to delivering the Agenda 2063 goal of world-class infrastructure crisscrossing Africa. The gathering said rationalisation is important as most of the continent’s infrastructure from colonial-era were guided by extractive goals. Therefore, they noted that the inclusive dimension of PIDA process is welcomed and should be supported.
According to the delegates, infrastructure development across Africa is multi-sectorial challenged and hence solutions must be multi-sectorial. The gathering noted that infrastructure development should serve for social and industrial development across the continent.
They, therefore, reaffirmed the crucial role of PIDA in the achievement of the main goals of the AU Agenda 2063 for continental integration, prosperity and peace; reiterated commitment to developing integrated and efficient systems through the application of sound policies and development strategies to enhance efficiency, sustainability and affordability of transport, energy, ICT and water services, in line with AU Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals.
The delegates acknowledged the diligent work accomplished during 2019, which was presented in the PIDA Annual Implementation report; and took note with appreciation of the detailed status reports and updates on the projects presented during the week and also welcomed the revival of the involvement of African and international private sector, the academia as well as partners to promote technical and financial contribution to PIDA projects. The attendees encouraged AUC, AUDA-NEPAD, AfDB and UNECA in partnership with other stakeholders, and financial institutions to pursue the mobilisation of funding for the complete implementation of the PIDA projects and called upon African Union member states, development partners and members of the Continental Business Network (CBN) to provide adequate resources for the PIDA project preparation facilities: the PIDA Service Delivery Mechanism (SDM) and the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD- IPPF), among others.
PROJECTS
- Abidjan-Grand Bassam Missing Road Links Upgrade Road Côte d’Ivoire (30%)
- Abidjan – Lagos Corridor Highway – Upgrade Road between Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo (65%);
- Agona Junction – Alubo Road (17%) Elubo/ Noe One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) (30%)
Godomey – Pahou Road (22%); and Hillacondji-Sanveekondji OSBP -Upgrade Border Post between Benin and Togo (57%)
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