AU adapts US $30bn water investment program

Member states of the African Union (AU) has launched a new program set to identify and accelerate priority water projects in Africa.

The dubbed Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) aims to mobilize US $30bn over 10 years to fill the investment gap in the water sector in Africa, in a context marked by the dual crisis of Covid-19 and climate change.

At least 18 of the 55 countries in the African Union will benefit from these funds, including five pilot countries, namely Benin, Cameroon, Uganda, Tunisia and Zambia, as well as five Trans boundary basins. These are the North-Western Sahara aquifer system, the Volta Basin, the Lake Chad Basin, the Kagera/Lake Victoria Basin and the Zambezi Basin.

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Mobilization strategy

According Global Water Partnership (GWP), the priority projects mentioned focus on the construction of dams, water transfer systems, irrigation and water management information and sanitation infrastructure that are essential to meet Africa’s growing socio-economic needs.

“The IPA includes a resource mobilization strategy that will establish strategic linkages between project owners (AU member states) and appropriate public and private sector donors, while ensuring continuous facilitation of resource mobilization throughout the project cycle,” says Towela Nyirenda-Jere, the Head of the Economic Integration Division at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-Nepad).

In its pilot phase, the program is supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Currently, only US $10-19bn is invested in the water sector in Africa each year according to GWP. Yet the AfDB estimates that US $64bn is needed annually to achieve Africa’s 2025 vision of water security for all. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region where the phenomenon remains the most worrisome, with 400 million people lacking a safe source of drinking water.

The IPA will also focus on knowledge sharing and capacity building among AU member states. The program was adopted under the second phase of the AU Development Agency’s Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP 2). It is a strategic portfolio of projects proposed by the Regional Economic Communities and AU member states for implementation between 2021 and 2030, under the leadership of AUDA-Nepad.