Strategic Infrastructure in Africa: A business approach to project acceleration

Infrastructure development is one of the top political priorities in Africa. The continent\'s growing population, education levels and technology absorption rates are putting pressure on already stressed power, transport, water and information technology networks. The lack of existing infrastructure and future investments is a key factor hampering Africa\'s economic development and constraining trade and jobs creation. Without an adequate infrastructure endowment Africa is at risk of sacrificing about 2% of GDP growth annually.The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Economic Forum are collaborating with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency in an ambitious initiative to accelerate project preparation and hence the implementation of the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a portfolio of crucial projects for regional infrastructure development.A first result of the initiative, the report \"Strategic Infrastructure in Africa: A business approach to project acceleration \" , released today, introduces a methodology to identify projects for private sector acceleration and gives an overview of potential new ways to finance infrastructure project acceleration