The Nation Newspaper

Tag: infrastructure

  • Axxela eyes $147m capex for gas infrastructure, others

    Axxela Limited, formerly Oando Gas and Power, has made a capital expenditure projection of about $147 million to develop its gas supply infrastructure in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, as well as the development of the Ajaokuta mini liquefied natural gas in Ajaokuta, Kogi State.

    Axxela Chief Executive Officer, Bolaji Osunsanya, in an interview with The Nation, said the amount is a bulk budget for the projects,  but these will be carried out in phases and may run for the next two or three years. He also stated that the company is eyeing expansion into  regional opportunities and has secured shipping licence from the West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA), adding that arrangements have been concluded for the first gas supply to a West African country.

    Giving a breakdown of the capital expenditure, Osunsanya said the money will be spent more on maximising existing assets of the firm, adding that some of them are organic developments. He said the company wants to build the 5th and 6th phases of its Lagos franchise, Gaslink.

    ‘’The 5th & 6th Phases will cost the company about $50 million and will be used, in developing sub-segments that will connect Igando to Ikeja, while the mini LNG will cost the firm about $60 million. The Port Harcourt expansion has already cost us about $7 million and the planned expansion to Omagua and Chioba industrial clusters will cost us about $30 million, he added. These are bumper numbers that we will use to develop them but it will be in phases, he said.

    He further said: “Gaslink is our Lagos franchise and today we carry 160 customers on it selling about 65 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) and we plan to sell 100mmsfcd from it in the next two to three years. Therefore, we have to do more expansion and give gas to more factories.

    “We are looking at doing Phase 5 which will be from Iba Road on Festac near Lagos State University  LASU back to Ikeja; Motorways all the way to  Gbagada, which will take us to almost all parts of Lagos, so there should be no industrial part of Lagos that will not have gas supply infrastructure. So, with phases 5&6 in Lagos, we will fully maximize Gaslink.

    On the company’s plan for PortHarcourt  axis, he had this to say: ‘’We also want to grow Port Harcourt gas grid.We have extended it to Court area, the next thing is to do Omogua industrial cluster, Airport and Chioba industrial cluster and also maximise the total capacity of our compressed natural gas (CNG) plant and use the mini LNG to supplement it.”

    On change of name to Axxela, Osunsanya said: “Last year we made an announcement about new investors in Oando Gas and Power. The new investors are Helios Capital Partners, which is the bigger investor. We thought it was necessary to change the name to reflect this new shareholding. They are big African-based infrastructure fund. They have about $3 billion in assets and investments.

    “They are in Airland, ARM pensions, Vivo, and Co-partners in OVH Energy, among others. They have the necessary experience doing infrastructure business in sub-Saharan Africa. The premise of their coming into Oando Gas and Power is that they liked our history as a gas and power infrastructure business and they thought coming and putting in the necessary capital would help us achieve growth. So it is a growth model.

    “But our own way of looking at this change is to leverage the two strengths. Oando on one hand has good market access, a formidable and local content platform and more importantly, Oando gives us access to resources. Oando is a member of the Joint Venture, you can  get gas from them and they also allow us access to all their other footprints. Helios on the other hand brings a lot of capital and wealth of management experience running growth companies in Africa. We are already in the last eight or nine months seeing the benefits of this marriage.”

  • ‘Pension fund key for infrastructure financing’

    The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has called for meaningful private capital fund to implement plans that will kick-start rapid infrastructure development in the country.

    The cocmmission’s Acting Director-General,  Chidi Izuwah, who made the call at the 2017 Institute of Directors (IoD) Fellows Investiture ceremony, said piecemeal funding of projects would not yield the desired infrastructure transformation for the country.

    Speaking on the theme: “Infrastructure for National Development and Economic Prosperity”, Izuwah said provision of adequate infrastructure such as power, roads, trains, hospitals, schools and others need meaningful investment, which can only be brought about with meaningful private capital fund.

    Izuwah mentioned some of the successful Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the country to include the concession of the Nigerian Ports, Murtala Mohammed Airport and Garki Hospital, Abuja.

    “Nigeria’s huge infrastructure deficit is an opportunity to partner on a win-win basis with the private sector in virtually all economic and social infrastructure space,” he added.

    According to Izuwah new regulatory framework is now in place to foster seamless private involvement, security of investment, affordability, public interest and investors’ protection under the Federal Government’ Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

    He hinted that the commission was looking at improvement on infrastructure financing through funds, which according to him, is a good private capital fund that should be invested in infrastructure for better turn over.

    He explained: “First, it is important that we need to put forward bankable projects because the private sector is interested in bankable projects. Bankability requires that if the private sector invests, there must be returns on investment. We are looking for the right mechanisms for these projects, and provide the right frame work that can attract investors.”

  • Experts canvass investment in infrastructure

    Equipment manufacturers and experts in the built environment have called for massive government investment in infrastructural development, saying it is the only way the nation can develop economically.

    They spoke on the sideline at an international construction and building exhibition, organised by ELAN, which was held in Lagos. The exhibition, which is believed will open up investment opportunities as well as other value chain in the built industry, had  several exhibitors from over 17  countries such as Turkey, Italy, Ukraine, India, Egypt, China and the United Arab Emirate (UAE), among others.

    ELAN EXPO Project Coordinator, Mr. Jude Chime, explained that the event brought together building professionals in the country, including international manufacturers and service providers in the sector. He said the EXPO has attracted billions of dollars into the Nigerian economy and will grow the sector.

    Chime said the EXPO brought to the fore the rapid growth in the last 20 years in the building and infrastructure construction, adding that the expo was considered in order to meet the growing demands in the sector. He said the large Nigerian market attracted a lot of investors, who want to be part of the lucrative infrastructure market.

    “On his part, General Manager, ElanExpo International Trade Fairs, Mr. Nihat Suer, explained that this year’s expo was hinged on stronger international partnership with delegations from Egypt, Turkey, Poland, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and China, among others.

    He said the fair brought together important professionals around the world and offered opportunities to network with foreign investors and explore other areas of investments apart from oil. “Sharing knowledge is the key for development and the need for adaptive technology cannot be over emphasised,”he said.

    Sharing her experience on the ongoing infrastructure reconstruction work in Maiduguri and the need to embrace competitive infrastructure upgrade, an engineer with the Bornu State Ministry of Works & Transport, Mrs Kori Shettima, gave a detailed and graphic information on the post war reconstruction of the war torn Northeast state of Maiduguri.

    She said her ministry had the mandate to repair the war damaged infrastructure in order to reactivate the local economy. Drawing example from Kosovo, a breakaway Republic from Yugoslavia, she pointed out that it has remained a good example for the government of her state where mixed research approach was used with quantitative and qualitative data collection to explore planning and implementation of post conflict reconstruction of infrastructure projects.

    On the challenges encountered in post conflict reconstruction, Shetima listed some of them as endemic corruption, lack of communication, lack of transparency in decision making, donor conditionality, lack of resources and poor procurement process.

    The incoming President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), Mrs Felicia Agubata and the vice-chairman, Nigerian Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Lagos Chapter, Mrs Funmi Akingbagbohun, assured that stakeholders will continue to explore solutions to infrastructural gaps in the country.

     

  • 2018 Budget: Ex-ANAN President urges FG to invest in infrastructure

    2018 Budget: Ex-ANAN President urges FG to invest in infrastructure

    Dr Samuel Nzekwe, the former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), has advised the Federal Government to ensure enormous investments in infrastructure to provide growth in the nation’s economy.

    Nzekwe gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Ota, Ogun, while reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s Tuesday’s presentation of N8.61 trillion 2018 Budget to the National Assembly.

    ‘‘Massive investment in infrastructure would create enabling environment for the productive sector to thrive and produce at optimal level,’’ he said.

    Nzekwe opined that there was little improvement in the power sector in 2017, saying this had made it difficult for the productive sector to contribute maximally to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Read: The budget at a glance

    He also implored the Federal Government to work harder on the implementation of 2018 Appropriation Bill, to improve the living conditions of the people.

    Nzekwe, however, noted that the capital expenditures in the proposed 2018 budget were still very nominal, saying this might not positively impact on the nation’s infrastructure development.

    He said that servicing the nation’s debt with 25 per cent was not ideal for any economy that wanted to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

    He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to address the huge recurrent expenditures, to have more funds for infrastructure development.

    Read Also: 2018 Budget: Era of abandoned projects over – APC

  • Infrastructure: Ogun to power institution with solar

    Infrastructure: Ogun to power institution with solar

    In furtherance of its infrastructure development in Ogun, the state government has concluded plans to power the newly- established Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia, with solar energy. This will not only guarantee uninterrupted power supply, but also is a part of its rural development strategy.

    The solar power system, said the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, will be installed by an Independent Power Provider (IPP), under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

    In a statement issued by the Head of Media in the Works and Infrastructure Ministry, Mr. Ayokunle Ewuoso, the commissioner was reported to have said the institution’s neighbours would also benefit from the solar power system.

    Adegbite explained that the firm selected for the project was one of the 12 Independent Power Providers earlier screened and certified to provide electricity for the state.

    “Government has decided to allocate five hectares of land to tqhe IPP out of the 400 hectares allocated for the institution. The IPP needs a large expanse of land where it will install the solar panels. This is from where the solar energy will be transmitted to the institution and its environs. What we want to achieve in all of these is to provide uninterrupted power supply to the school and equally allow the immediate environment benefits, though it will not be free,” he explained, adding that barring any unforseen circumstances, the institution will be completed by next year.

  • ‘Gas infrastructure gap needs $10b investment’

    To close Nigeria’s gas infrastructure gap, the Federal Government and oil and gas stakeholders will require $10 billion investments, The Nation has learnt.

    The Vice President, Gas & Commercial, Aiteo Exploration and Production (E& P), Victor Okoronkwo, stated this at the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) financial forum on investing in Nigeria’s future held in Lagos.

    Speaking on “Enabling gas to power infrastructure – beyond pipelines,” Okoronkwo said besides the gas infrastructure gap of $10 billion, Nigeria also needed between $15 billion and $20 billion to fill the gap in gas-to-power value chain.

    He said: “The huge infrastructure gap is key in developing the Nigerian Gas Master Plan, establish a commercial framework and an infrastructure blue print for natural gas.  It is estimated that infrastructure gap in the gas sector requires about $10 billion over the next two to four years.”

    He said the amount involved in solving gas infrastructure and related issues is huge, to bring natural gas to you. We have made all the mistakes and, hopefully, have learnt from them,’’ he added.

    Leveraging the advancement in technology, companies are using the virtual pipeline technology to bring natural gas to markets and industrial clusters in affordable, sustainable, safe way to enable, and in some instances kickstart the industrialisation we desperately need to diversify our economy, he said, adding that the implementation of virtual pipeline is the bedrock of the recently enacted National Gas Policy.

    He said: “Nigeria holds about 190 trillion standard cubic feet (Tscf) of natural gas, making Nigeria the ninth largest gas reserves holder in the world, but ironically, Nigeria ranks 22nd in production and utilisation – indicative of our level of industrialisation.

    “Nigeria’s natural gas production is about 7.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas (Bscf/d), 43 per cent of this is exported to Europe and America mainly through the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG), and a paltry volume to the West Coast  through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP); 13 per cent is used domestically for power generation and industries. Power generation actually consumes huge chunk of the domestic supply.Thirty-four per cent is used upstream for gas re-injection and other operational uses, while about 10 per cent is flared.

    On infrastructure, with a land mass of over 920,000 sq. km, Nigeria has only 4,000 km of gas pipelines, saying this is grossly inadequate to serve the vast population of over 170 million people.

    “Nigeria’s energy mix is around 85 per cent thermal, mainly gas fired and 15 per cent by hydro. The Federal Government estimates that the economy loses about N29.3billion yearly due to lack of adequate electricity. The nation targets 10 megawatts (Mw) by 2019. To achieve this, it is estimated that the country will require investments in power generating capacity alone of at least $ 3.5billion per year.Correspondingly, large investments are also required in the other parts of the electricity infrastructure chain – transmission and distribution networks including metering.”

    Okoronkwo said the huge electricity deficit also means Nigeria has tried all sorts of models to bridge the gap, including but not limited to integrated gas-to-power projects by upstream oil and gas companies, commercialisation and partial privatisation of the electricity sector and institutional reforms, among others. Consequently, Nigeria has ended up with multiple government and private sector players in the gas-to-power chain creating an overtly complicated regulatory and pricing regime, he added.

    “The large-scale power plant projects are very capital intensive requiring several billions of dollars of investment, very rigorous financing requirements, major project delivery expertise, suite of regulatory processes, thereby making it difficult to deliver such projects. This method also requires central intensive central planning and massive layout of infrastructure,” he added.

     

  • GPP summit targets finance partners for infrastructure devt

    GPP summit targets finance partners for infrastructure devt

    The value of Nigeria’s infrastructure stock (road, rail, power, airports, water, telecoms and seaports) is only 35 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is a far cry from some of the emerging market countries’ average of 70 percent. To attain a considerable increase in this area, it is estimated that the country needs to invest $3 trillion in infrastructure over 30 years.

    However, experts agreed that the government was not in a position to singularly make this a reality, except it sourced for private financing.

    “It is, therefore, critical that Nigeria leverages private financing opportunities for infrastructure development from global institutional investors through Public Private Partnerships (PPP),” said Managing Director/Chief Executive of Global Property Partners (GPP), Mr. Emmanuel Odemayowa.

    Odemayowa said GPP, a consortium of firms with diverse interests in real estate and infrastructure development, would organise a summit on infrastructure development in Lagos on October 26.

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will be the special guest of honour. “This year’s summit is to create a platform for the engagement of global institutional investors for infrastructure development. The summit aims to raise Partners to Finance the National Economic Recovery Goals with regards to Infrastructure Development,” he explained.

    The summit, with the theme: “Infrastructural development as catalyst for economic growth”,  will focus on creating avenues to generate sustainable income and wealth through global partnerships, innovation and sound investments. Among the issues to be discussed are investment opportunities in Africa and beyond; mobilising institutional investments for infrastructural development and current government policies and regulations on public-private partnerships. There will also be networking opportunities with distinguished business executives and corporate leaders in the national and global infrastructure finance sector at the Summit.

    The summit will attract key players in infrastructure finance and development, both locally and internationally, including Dr. Zhao Changhui of China EximBank; Mr. David Smith of the British African Business Alliance and the Minister of State for Power, Works & Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri.

    Also billed to speak at the summit are Mr. Bismarck Rewane of Financial Derivatives Company; Dr. Joseph Nnanna, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Ms. Yewande Sadiku, Director-General of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission; Arc. Gbenga Onabanjo, Chairman of GPP and Olabintan Famutimi, President of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, among others.

  • Lagos to boost infrastructure

    Lagos to boost infrastructure

    Lagos State is to increase the scope and efficiency of infrastructure to boost production.

    Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau said the government was ready to support investment in value addition infrastructure, creation and expansion of food processing and preservation capacities.

    Suarau, who stated this at a briefing signalling the commencement of activities to commemorate the  World Food Day, said the theme of the celebration: “Change the future of Migration: Investment in Food Security and rural development,” brings to the fore various challenges countries face in migration and food security.

    “I wish to emphasise that the Lagos State government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, has developed agricultural initiatives aimed at addressing these challenges, the recent breakthrough in rice-agribusiness readily comes to mind, considering the collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi state on large production, processing and distribution of the LAKE Rice product,” he said.

    Suarau said a 32-metric-tonne per hour rice milling plant, which will become operational next year, has been acquired by the state to ensure that Lagos meet the demand of its LAKE Rice project.

    He said Lagos was also collaborating with Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo states in rice production to ensure that adequate rice is supplied to the mill.

    He said market sensitisation on re-useable plastic crates, in place of raffia basket for packaging and carriage of perishable farm produce, was ongoing, stressing that the use of plastic crates would take effect from next year.

    Suarau noted that the establishment of agricultural estate initiative, promotion of vegetable production using greenhouse technology, cage and pen culture in fish production, strengthening of farm settlement initiative, empowerment of farmers were some of the initiatives aimed at improving agricultural development and sustainable food security in Lagos.

    Also, Special Adviser to the Governor on Food Security Ganiyu Sanni Okanlawon averred that the state, especially since the inception of the present administration, has embarked on policies and programmes that will enhance food security.

    He noted that the government had made efforts to enhance agriculture with the introduction of programmes in vegetable, poultry, cassava and fishery, and various forms of agro-processing programmes to the youth.

    Calling on stakeholders and investors, especially those in the private sector, to join hands with the state to boost food security, Okanlawon reiterated that Lagos State remained committed to ensuring that it is a food secured place.

    He added government was ready to overcome the challenges threatening the availability of food in the state, stressing that food production is a strategy government is using to tackle unemployment and encourage youth empowerment.

  • ‘Nigeria needs $3 trillion for infrastructure development’

    Nigeria must spend $3 trillion on economic infrastructure in the next 30 years to meet its ambitious development goals, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) president, Chief Executive, Mr Andrew Alli has said.

    Speaking at the annual conference of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos, Alli, federal and state governments’ fiscal inflows were inadequate to match the pace of investments required in infrastructure.

    Represented by a top executive of the corporation, Fowler Fagbule, Alli said the government’s ability to spend was limited based on what it earns.

    Extracts from the Nigeria Economic Recovery & Growth Plan 2017-2020 show that the federal government’s medium-term fiscal framework forecasts deficits of N7.6 trillion from 2017 to 2019. This, he said, was evidence that government resources awere limited.

    The power sector, according to him,  is still significantly government-driven with challenges of transmission, gas supply, tariffs, payment security, and operational limits which have left the industry in a critical state regarding suitability for long-term investment.

    The overall effect of this, according to the AFC boss, is that Nigeria still struggles to provide reliable power to its supply people, as generation capacity was still about 3038 megawatts at March, 2017. He believes that the country should generate 5000 megawatts by 2018.

    The country has generated 700min, according to Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola.

    “If we don’t have a cost reflective tariff, we will not have the kind of investment we want,” he stressed.

    Alli expressed concern that despite its recent unbundling, “This industry is at a critical juncture in terms of privatisation, liberalisation and other conditions for long-term investment sustainability, both by public sector and private financiers. Both the public and private sides have fallen short of requirements to create a bankable and sustainable sector. “

    He said the transport sector is largely public financed  hence limited by annual fiscal constraints. The end result in Nigeria, Alli added, is that roads and rail typically get the most attention, but funding is “poor and opaque.”

    Arguing  that money is not the problem of infrastructure financing, Alli said other challenges that need to be addressed include: bad procurement processes, structural problems that make it difficult for investors to get value for money, funding structure, maintenance, tolling, among others. He also frowned at inadequate attention which Nigeria pays to meeting the needs of specific investors and projects already in progress, or on creating policy incentives that will spur investments.

    “Even though the country has proven gas reserves greater than oil reserves and world class deposits of tin, substantial iron ore and coal resources, unfavourable policies around pricing and access to acreage have limited infrastructure investment and development for several decades in Nigeria,” said the AFC boss.

    In proffering solution to poor infrastructure financing, the AFC president said there should be major overhaul in approach, for large ticket billion-dollar projects to work.

    “We need to reduce, significantly, the level of opaqueness in public procurement. We must establish the framework for private contractors to borrow against a contract. Ministries must spend more time developing contract that private capital can relate with. On natural resource, he said significant amount of acreage are in the hands of those who have no real interest.

    “Everyone involved in the privatisation exercise has some blame to carry. We need to achieve a reset of the privatisation programme. We are not seeing an empowered regulator that can enforce what is agreed.  Enforcement will be painful on both sides, but that pain is necessary,” Alli stated.

    Referring to the electricity sector, he said strict enforcement of all agreement by all parties to a contract is important.

    He, however, commended the federal government for the decentralisation of the Nigerian ports via private sector concessions, which he said has allowed for planning and developing of port infrastructure and facilitation of financing for new construction through build-operate-transfer arrangement.

  • NEPAD to bridge Africa’s $68b infrastructure gap

    •Launches 5% Agenda initiative

    The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has launched its five per cent agenda campaign for infrastructure financing in Africa. The aim is to close Africa’s huge infrastructure financing gap put at $68 billion.

    The campaign highlights that only a collaborative public-private approach can efficiently tackle infrastructure financing in Africa. It also calls for institutional investors’ allocations to infrastructure to be increased to the declared five per cent mark.

    The launch took place five years after a January 2012 African Union (AU) Summit adopted the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), which set out 51 cross-border infrastructure programmes and more than 400 actionable projects in four sectors.

    According to the World Bank, the continent needs to spend $93 billion annually (44 per cent for energy; 23 per cent for water and sanitation; 20 per cent for transport; 10 per cent for ICTs; and three per cent for irrigation) until 2020 to bridge its infrastructure gap, which removes an estimated two per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth every year.

    On the other hand, Africa only managed to close 158 project finance deals with debts totalling $59 billion over the decade (2004-2013), which represented only five per cent of infrastructure investment needs, and 12 per cent of the actual financial flows.

    At the launch in New York, NEPAD Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, said: “Infrastructure plays a leading role in supporting growth on the continent. At the same time, it can represent an innovative and attractive asset class for institutional investors with long-term liabilities.

    “By launching the five per cent campaign in New York today, we invite investors to take advantage of the wide-ranging opportunities Africa has to offer and move forward with what can only be a win-win partnership.”

    The launch gathered high-level international investors and business leaders, including members of the PIDA Continental Business Network (CBN), which is spearheaded by NEPAD and constitutes a CEO-level private sector infrastructure leaders’ dialogue platform on PIDA.

    The CBN is a NEPAD and AU initiative, which enables private sector members to communicate recommendations to high-level African policy makers on how to improve the investment climate for infrastructure.

    One of Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurs and active participant in the CBN, Tony Elumelu, said: “Africa is getting stronger every day with new business opportunities and innovative ideas, but what is still crucially missing is project implementation.”

    He said a coherent and co-ordinated approach was needed to mobilise institutional investors while limiting their risk exposure. “African governments need to work on creating conducive environments to attract these investments, which are so vital for the continent’s growth and development,” Elumelu said.

    According to a 2016 McKinsey report, institutional investors and banks have $120 trillion in assets that could partially support infrastructural projects.

    The report noted that as banks face additional regulatory challenges, and as governments have limited fiscal space, it is becoming increasingly urgent to unlock additional flows from long-term institutional investors such as insurers, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

    It, however, stated that for pension and sovereign wealth funds to be able to invest in large-scale infrastructure projects in Africa, a variety of issues needed to be addressed to strategically and intentionally facilitate long-term allocations.

    One of the issues, according to the report, is the need to reform national and regional regulatory frameworks that guide institutional investment in Africa.

    It also said new capital market products need to be developed that can effectively de-risk credit and hence, allow these African asset owners to allocate finance to African infrastructure as an investable asset class to their portfolio.

    All these issues are at the heart of the 5 per cent Agenda roadmap, which is the backbone of NEPAD’s campaign and is foreseen to have many impacts, including unlocking notable and measurable pools of needed capital to implement regional and domestic infrastructure projects on the continent.

    It will also broaden and deepen the currently very shallow African capital markets, whilst at the same time contributing significantly to regional integration and job creation.

    The campaign is also expected to promote the development of innovative capital market products that are specific to the continent’s challenges and potential in regards to infrastructure development.

    Furthermore, it will raise the investment interest of other institutional and non-institutional financiers that have so far been hesitant to include African infrastructure projects as an asset to their investment portfolio based on specific, concrete next steps and project suggestions.