- The African Union’s $30 billion investment plan aims to modernise Africa’s aviation infrastructure.
- The African Development Bank’s partnerships are designed to boost youth employment and training.
- African governments and institutions are increasingly driving infrastructure investments, with a focus on digitalisation, regional integration, and sustainability.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently announced a financial agreement with Equatorial Guinea for youth inclusion and employment, and a partnership with the Republic of Congo to expand its support on regional integration infrastructure. At the same time, the Third Summit for Financing Infrastructure in Africa, held in Luanda, Angola last week, saw aviation routes, energy independence, and pan-African collaboration take centre stage.
The recent announcements, in the wake of South Africa’s G20 presidency ending this month, exemplify an increasing trend of cross-border infrastructure investments, often on high-value projects like aviation or broadband connectivity. These investments, driven by African governments and development institutions, lay the groundwork for increasing intra-African trade and digitalisation.
At the Summit for Financing Infrastructure, which finished on October 28, the African Union announced a $30 billion investment plan to modernise Africa’s aviation infrastructure, which African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, H. E. Lerato D. Mataboge, called “a strategic engine of continental integration.” The plan aims to improve airport and aerodrome infrastructure and modernise communication, navigation, and meteorological systems, in line with the Single African Air Transport Market goal.
To do so, the African Union aims to mobilise $10 billion in public funding and attract the remaining $20 billion through a mix of private and institutional investment. African aviation infrastructure, both for cargo and for passengers, is currently a fraction of what it would need to be to support intra-regional trade, with many airports lacking necessary technology and capacity to scale. With passenger volumes set to more than triple by 2050, appropriate airport infrastructure across the continent is vital.
In another example of homegrown investment, the AfDB announced last week an investment in a different kind of “infrastructure”: youth development. The AfDB and Equatorial Guinea signed a $67 million financing agreement to increase access to employment and training for young people. The program will focus on training and education infrastructure, financing the construction of two polytechnic institutes in provincial cities in Equatorial Guinea, and entrepreneurship, by establishing businesses run by young people.
The AfDB is also strengthening its partnership with the Republic of Congo, with which it is collaborating to finance a network of roads linking major cities in the country and the deployment of fiber optic cables in Congo, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. While roads are self-evidently necessary to increase regional trade, broadband internet could have an even more transformative effect. A recent report found that basic infrastructure, like electricity and internet access, was one of the most significant barriers to trade digitisation in Africa.
By laying the foundations for digital, sustainable trade, the recent investments will have a wide-ranging effect on the future of African interconnectivity. What’s more remarkable is that, while just 20 years ago, investment in African infrastructure came largely from the West, African governments and institutions have been driving this latest push. As the US cuts back on aid and other sources of foreign funding often come with strings attached, homegrown investment is growing to be the most powerful way forward for the continent.
