Swakopmund, Namibia — The 2017 Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa Week (PIDA Week) will take place from 10 to 14 December in Swakopmund, Namibia on the theme, "Regional infrastructure development for job creation and economic transformation."
The third edition of PIDA Week will be organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in collaboration with the Namibian Government and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The main objective of the PIDA Week is to provide a marketing platform for selected PIDA Projects in order to accelerate their implementation.
Over a five-day period, participants will discuss how to double and synergize their efforts to accelerate projects preparation and implementation; mobilize adequate financial and technical resources for projects; increase private sector participation in PIDA implementation; and mobilize Member States to integrate the PIDA projects into their national development plans.
The 2017 PIDA Week will showcase six major PIDA "Corridor" projects as facilitators of job creation and economic transformation at the continental, regional, national and local levels. The corridor projects to be considered include:
Central Corridor (Dar es Salaam to Chalinze Toll Road) - EAC
Kinshasa-Brazzaville Road and Railway Bridge - ECCAS
Ethiopia-Sudan Power Interconnector- EAC
Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya Power Interconnection - SADC
Batoka Hydropower Plant- SADC
Abidjan-Lagos Corridor - ECOWAS
The PIDA Week program will also include a media breakfast on 11 December and a site visit at Walvis Bay Port Extension and Railway Project on 14 December.
It aims to build on the achievements of the 2015 and 2016 meetings in Abidjan and the momentum created in the previous two events to continue to engage stakeholders on the effective delivery of infrastructure on the continent.
