The 9^th African Development Forum (ADF) opened yesterday in Marrakech with a call by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) for stronger emphasis on infrastructure and for ownership of the Africa50 Fund.

Speaking on behalf of the Bank Group, Operations Vice-President, in charge of Agriculture, Human Development and Governance, Aly Abou-Sabaa said infrastructure is vital for transformation.

“Africa’s transformation cannot occur with weak governance, health or education systems or within a context of prevailing food insecurity,” he continued.

He continued to explain that in spite of agriculture contributing up to 25% of Africa’s GDP and employing about 60% of the population, the continent still imports US$25 billion worth of food every year.

He further outlined that Africa’s most significant challenge is that it only invests 4% of its collective GDP in infrastructure, compared with China’s 14%. Abou-Sabaa expounded on the Bank’s estimates, stating that, “the annual financing need for African infrastructure is about US$95 billion, of which only US$45 billion is currently invested each year, from African governments, development finance institutions and the private sector.”

Abou-Sabaa also pointed out that Africa’s transformation largely depends on how well countries mobilize inputs from a range of stakeholders, promote infrastructure through new vehicles such as the Africa50 Fund, invest in their human capital, and foster good governance to enable a business-conducive environment.

The AfDB has created Africa50 Fund as the new game-changing solution to stimulate and drive the African infrastructure market. It, “seeks to reconcile governments’ strategic objectives of meeting the substantial investment needs in infrastructure and the attractiveness of African assets to the growing sources of domestic and international capital,” explained Abou-Sabaa.

The long-term strategic aim of Africa50 is to invest US$10 billion in projects and facilitate total project investments of US$100 billion by crowding in private-sector players and enticing investors.