South Africa joins the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa – as the first G20 member.
5 December 2013
“… We are very excited to welcome The Republic of South Africa as the first G20 member…” said ICA Coordinator Mohamed Hassan.
Tunis | December 5, 2013: Launched at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005, the ICA (Infrastructure Consortium for Africa) was established to improve the lives and well-being of Africa’s people by encouraging investment in transformational infrastructure projects in Africa. The ICA functions as a high-level advocate and acts as a catalyst – accelerating, promoting and enhancing the development of sustainable infrastructure in Africa.
“… Since 2005 [when we started] the ICA has been able leverage a dramatic increase in much needed investments for roads, rail, air transport, sustainable energy, technology and water - across the continent of Africa …” said Hassan. “… Our G8 members (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, The United Kingdom and The United States) and other international institutions (The African Development Bank, The European Investment Bank The World Bank,the European Commission and the Development Bank of South Africa) have the collective convening power necessary to move large, complex projects forward. Now with South Africa on board, we feel more hopeful than ever …”
At the [closed] ICA members meeting in Tanzania on November 13th, Republic of South Africa representatives expressed support for the goals and objectives of the ICA – particularly the ICA support of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). PIDA has an aggressive action plan (commonly referred to as ‘PAP’) This action plan includes 51 transformational infrastructure programmes/projects( 24 transport projects, 15 energy projects, 9 trans-boundary water projects and 3 ICT projects).
“… The PIDA PAP is a huge undertaking …” said Hassan. “…The hard infrastructure costs will be in the dozens of billions … but with the institutional, regional and governmental rigour now being channeled into PIDA, we feel the ambitious targets of this initiative are very achievable by 2030 …”
The Republic of South Africa is the first G20 member to join the ICA. It is also the first African country to join the ICA. With its strong and growing portfolio in infrastructure investments, The Republic of South Africa will be a valued member of the ICA.
“… We hope this will encourage other G20 countries to come on board with the ICA … “ said Hassan
For more information about the ICA, visit www.icafrica.org – or contact Susan Wood, Communications Consultant: s.wood@afdb.org
Category: ICA Press Releases