Infrastructure Consortium for Africa
The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa is a major G8 initiative designed to improve and accelerate progress in meeting the urgent infrastructure needs of Africa. The ICA addresses both national and regional constraints to infrastructure development, with an emphasis on regional infrastructure integration. In encouraging and promoting the development of African infrastructure projects, the ICA lends a helping hand to the continent’s economic growth and development.
The ICA is not a financing agency, but serves as a platform to broker increased donor financing of infrastructure projects and programmes in Africa. The ICA also helps its members to provide more effective support of African infrastructure projects by pooling efforts in selected areas, such as information sharing, project development and good practice.
Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA)
Africa speaking with one voice to enhance its cross border trade, share resources and build mutually beneficial infrastructure – this is all possible through the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
The programme, developed by the African Union Commission (AUC), NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency), African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), promotes regional economic integration by bridging Africa’s infrastructure gap. Currently, Africa is the least integrated continent physically and economically, with low levels of intra-regional trade and global trade at 10% and 3% respectively.
Infrastructure inefficiencies are costing the continent billions of dollars annually, stunting African GDP growth by an estimate of 2% every year. Bridging the gap in infrastructure is thus vital for economic advancement and sustainable development. However, this can only be achieved through regional and continental cooperation. PIDA aims to accelerate the delivery of current and future regional and continental infrastructure projects in transport, energy, information communications and technology (ICT), and trans-boundary water.