PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA HOST IGAD WORKSHOP

Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga host IGAD meeting in Kenya . PHOTO / VERA SHAWIZA

Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga opened a three day IGAD meeting in the Capital City of Kenya. PHOTO / VERA SHAWIZA

RAILA ODINGA HOST IGAD MEETING TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE MASTERPLAN

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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