Accelerating Africa’s economic and social growth, the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) has created a $68 billion priority action plan to overhaul the continent’s lagging internal connectivity and bring its nations into alignment.
With sub-Saharan nations in particular struggling with the lack of competitiveness in the global economy, PIDA aims to nurture regional integration to boost trade between nations, overcoming the last vestiges of obsolete development patterns such as roadways and ports built without regard to eventual expansion.
Harnessing the momentum created by increasing urbanization and regional integration — and taking advantage of the overall population’s relatively young median age — PIDA will oversee improvements in the areas of transportation, energy, waterways and telecommunications.
Having identified long-term goals for attainment by 2040, the program indicates expanded trade routes and better access to utilities and water, especially for landlocked countries. PIDA’s priority action plan (PAP) lists 51 long-term initiatives for developing Africa’s ultimate sustainability in the global economy.
PIDA was officially adopted at the 18th African Union Assembly in 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and the AU established “PIDA Week” for the first time in 2015 in cooperation with its affiliates, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Investing assets in carefully chosen infrastructure developments could potentially allow up to 25 percent more trade for African nations. Currently visible projects include the Kaleta hydropower plant in Guinea, the Grand Renaissance dam in Ethiopia, and the Abidjan-Lagos Transport Corridor.
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