The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved $428.43m USD to finance construction of infrastructure in Africa including energy, transport and water and sanitation. This is amazing news for Africa as it is going to help the continent as a whole to develop which will benefit a lot of people. The eight African countries to benefit mainly from this financial boost include Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Guinea, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire.
The construction of a new terminal at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra is part of Ghana’s capital investment programme under the Ghana Airports Company Ltd. The company will receive a total of $120m USD inclusive of the rehabilitation of other airports at Kumasi, Temale, Ho and Wa.
Tanzania will receive $97.42m USD from the AfDB and $44.29m USD from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF) to finance phase II of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project in Dar es Salaam. The project involves the construction of 20.3 km exclusive BRT lanes and Non Motorized Transport (NMT) facilities along Kilwa Road corridor and the Kilwa road itself.
Zimbabwe will be given $16.15m USD from the Zimbabwe Fund (ZIM-FUND) resources to finance phase II of the country’s Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation (UWSSRP) project in Harare, Redcliff, Chitungwiza and Ruwa with an estimated 1.9 million population. The project aims to protect public health through service improvement, preservation of physical assets, and resuscitation of capacity and improvement of financial sustainability of the water and sanitation service providers. This is amazing news as it means a safer water supply for Africa meaning less diseases for the people.
The multinational Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG) Energy Project is expected to benefit The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Senegal with combined loans and grants financing amounting to $64.93m USD.
The project, within the framework of the countries’ regional cooperation and integration, seeks to promote the sharing of energy and improve electricity supply by providing renewable, clean and affordable power, such as (i) the development of a 128-MW hydro-electricity dam with an annual output of 402GWh; and (ii) an interconnection network of 1,677 km, comprising 15 transformer stations and two dispatching centres.
The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau will each receive a soft loan and a grant amounting to $5.26 million USD and $6.32 million USD, respectively; while Guinean and Senegal will each receive $64.94 million USD and $59.66 million USD in soft loans.
In recent years AfDB has stepped up efforts to boost construction of infrastructure in Africa which it sees as key to development.
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