By Vera Shawiza
The African Union High Representative
for Infrastructure Development Rt. Hon.
Raila Amolo Odinga opened a 3-day
Development Partners Roundtable on IGAD
Regional Infrastructure with a rallying
call on governments in the Horn of
Africa Region to reverse the slow pace
of action on infrastructure – the most
important enabler of trade among African
nations.
Themed Interconnecting Member States for
Regional Integration and Trade
Competitiveness, the roundtable aims to
secure support for regional
Infrastructure to promote economic
development and integration as it offers
unrivalled opportunity for the
development partners to exchange views
and network amongst governments,
development partners, investors and
other stakeholders.
The key objective of the discussion is
to support the implementation of the
IGAD Regional Infrastructure Master Plan
(IRIMP), which was completed in
December 2020 with financial assistance
from the African Development Bank
(AfDB). It boasted of a holistic
regional Infrastructure invested
approach and defined priority regional
infrastructure in transport, energy,
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) and transboundary water projects
for investment.
“The IGAD Infrastructure Master plan has
highlighted well the Short-Term
priority projects. There are 61 projects
in transport, 9 projects in Energy, 14
projects in ICT, and 5 projects in
trans-boundary waterways. These are
projects that need to be implemented by
2024, three years from today, at a cost
of US$ 34 billion,” said Rt. Hon. Raila
Amolo Odinga at the opening ceremony of
the 3-day meeting.
His sentiments were echoed by IGAD
Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu.
“Our region is constrained by low stock
of infrastructure and inadequate
infrastructure shaves off at least 2% of
Africa’s annual economic growth. As a
consequence, regional integration has
fallen short of expectations. However,
establishment of adequate infrastructure
would lead to productivity gains by
African firms of up to 40%. This
roundtable aims to create awareness,
build confidence and secure support for
the policy initiatives and priority
investments as reflected in the IGAD
Regional Infrastructure Master Plan
(IRIMP),” said the Executive Secretary.
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