Accelerating infrastructure development across the continent should be a key focus of Africa’s drive toward sustainable development, delegates heard in Abidjan on Friday.

More than 150 participants, including senior government representatives, continental organizations and experts, gathered in the Ivorian capital for the first-ever Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) – a week-long meeting that aims to shine the spotlight on Africa’s collective push toward developing large-scale infrastructure projects to further strengthen regional integration.

Delegates agreed that the essential benefit of regional infrastructure is to make possible the formation of large, competitive markets in place of the present collection of small, isolated, and inefficient ones.

In his remarks, CEO of the NEPAD Agency Dr Ibrahim Mayaki highlighted that whilst the meeting was ostensibly about the development of infrastructure which would facilitate economic growth, participants should recognise that regional integration was a key stabilising factor for the continent. “It is not about building roads, dams, bridges or ports. Infrastructure is the means for socio-economic development and creating jobs that will lead to stability,” he said.

Dr Mayaki cautioned that while Africa had significantly grown in the past ten years due to good governance and sound macro-economic policies, Africa required inclusive double digit growth and could no longer rely on its natural resources and official development assistance (ODA).

“The boom of raw materials has come to an end and ODA will disappear in the near future. The main challenge that we are facing now is that Africa’s growth has been a job-less growth. We need to address the issue of creating jobs for the youth. The next ten years of Africa must be about transformation and not re-marginalisation,” he underscored.

Dr Mayaki commended the progress made in the implementation of regional infrastructure projects on the ground. He singled out the Abidjan-Lagos-Transport Corridor, Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya (ZTK) Transmission Line, African Renaissance Dam and the Central Corridor which spans across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. The four projects are part of PIDA’s 51 priority projects, which cover transport, energy, ICT and trans-boundary water sectors, and are jointly fast-tracked by the African Union Commission (AUC), NEPAD Agency and African Development Bank (AfDB).

Dr Mayaki also welcomed the achievements made in accelerating the implementation of PIDA projects by addressing PIDA’s main bottlenecks. These include insufficient project preparation capacity, a lack of funding for project preparation, a lack of funding for projects and inadequate dialogue with the private sector. Several interventions have since been put in place to address these challenges spearhead by the NEPAD Agency.

With a view to the upcoming Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, Dr Mayaki emphasised the need for a Common African Position on Energy during all negotiations.

AUC Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Dr Elham Ibrahim noted that PIDA was a perfect reflection for harmonised coordination in the implementation of regional infrastructure projects.

Ms Moono Mupotola, AfDB Director of Office of NEPAD Regional Integration (ONRI) reiterated the Banks continued support and commitment to the success of PIDA. “As the premier development finance institution in Africa, we intend to focus on the more transformative projects contained in the PIDA PAP, projects that are likely to have a larger development impact for Africa.” Particular emphasis would be placed on the energy sector, she said.

She underscored the funding gap in project preparation which stood currently at USD 2.5 billion up to 2020 which would require other players to join the bank. “Collaboration and mobilising additional resources for project preparation through innovative financing mechanisms should be a priority for the continent within,” she said.

On private sector mobilisation, Ms Mupotola highlighted the PIDA Partnership with the World Economic Forum to accelerate projects along the Central African Corridor in east Africa through identification of key projects, financial modelling and presentation to potential investors at a high-level roundtable hosted by African Heads of State from the five EAC countries. “As PIDA stakeholders we should strive to support more of such partnerships to accelerate implementation of PIDA” she underscored.

The week-long activities also saw a field visit to the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor. The Coastal Corridor is the most travelled West African corridor affecting more than 13 million people. Its modernisation and the addition of One-Stop-Border Posts will not only boost regional trade and integration but also reduce border crossing time, harassment and cost.

The Corridor is 1,000km long and involves the construction or rehabilitation of six-lane roads along the five countries Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Benin and Togo. In 2015, the movement of 47 million people were registered.