The eight-nation Intergovernmental Agency on Development (IGAD) has secured a US $3.50-million grant from the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group, to finance the agency's Infrastructure Master Plan (IRIMP).

The project, to be completed in 38 months, seeks to establish regional infrastructure development priorities for the IGAD region, comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, in order to enhance regional physical and economic integration, thus promoting trade, movement of goods and persons and poverty reduction among the countries.

It will define priority regional infrastructure transport, energy, ICT and transboundary water projects for investment, to spur a broader positive socio-economic development impact. These would include physical and economic integration; job creation; enhanced opportunities for women (particularly in easing cross-border trade); increased business opportunities; improved access to infrastructure services; and generally improved the quality of life of the majority of the population in the IGAD region.

The IRIMP is one of the deliverables under the "IGAD Minimum Integration Plan/Road Map" towards creating a Free Trade Area (FTA) in the region approved in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010 and the wider "Horn of Africa Initiative (HOAI). For IGAD, which lacks a regional infrastructure Master Plan and a prioritized consensual infrastructure development programme, the Bank's intervention in this regard responds to a defined priority need of the governments which will serve to consolidate and enhance regional integration.

Japan's Bold Infrastructural Plan for Africa - TICAD 6 Roundup

At the end of the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi on August 28, the highlight was the announcement by the visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of a bold new African infrastructure plan worth US $10 billion over the next three years to be implemented by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Other highlights include AfDB's signing a Letter of Intent with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to promote Africa's economic development and a MOU with the Sasakawa Africa Association to boost agriculture in Africa. More about the AfDB in this BRIEFING. 

In general, the governments, people, institutions, and economies of the eight IGAD member States will benefit directly from the project. Specifically, businesses, traders, households, investors as well as development partners and international bilateral and multilateral agencies will also benefit from well-planned coordinated regional infrastructure projects and services that would enhance more efficient movement trade and economic development.

The total project cost is estimated at US $3.69 million to be financed by the US $3.50 million ADF grant from the Bank's Regional Operations envelop and Regional Public Goods (RPG) window; and US $0.19 million IGAD Secretariat counterpart funding. In addition, the investment is expected to spur huge investment mobilization and financing attracted by well-prepared and bankable infrastructure projects.