[Press Release] Zimbabwe To Host This Year’s Programme For Infrastructure Development In Africa (PIDA) Week

The 2018 Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Week) will take place in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe from 26 to 29 November 2018, on the theme: “PIDA Implementation through Good Governance – Realizing Smart Infrastructure for Africa’s Integration.”

PIDA Week was inaugurated in 2015 as a marketing platform to showcase selected PIDA projects and to accelerate their implementation. The week-long event is an important step in the implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 framework and  a stepping stone towards reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

PIDA Week 2018 will build on the momentum created in the previous three events held in Cote D’Ivoire (2015 & 2016) and Namibia (2017) to continue to engage stakeholders on the effective delivery of infrastructure on the continent.

The fourth PIDA Week event in Zimbabwe is being organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The 2018 PIDA Week will assemble some of Africa’s best minds in the infrastructure world to discuss project management and good governance as it relates to smart and integrated infrastructure development. More than 400 participants from all over the world are expected to attend. Plenary sessions and discussions will be guided by keynote speakers, and will feature experts from world leading institutions, government agencies, private firms and consultants advising governments and the private sector. Representatives of the AUC, the African Development Bank, NEPAD, UNECA, leading academics, development partners, financiers, leading industrialists, project owners and the media will also attend.

Discussions, PIDA stakeholder reports and project updates will focus on five sub-themes: project preparation, resource mobilization and financing mechanisms; capacity development, job creation and empowerment; smart and integrated infrastructure development; innovation and industrialization and policy, legal and regulatory frameworks.    

Some of the projects which will be showcased at the 2018 PIDA Week are: the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway; the Central Corridor Dar es Salaam – Chalinze Toll Road; the Lamu Lapsset Project; the Ruzizi III hydro Power Project; Africa High Speed Rail Project; the Single Africa Air Space Project; Brazzaville-Kinshasa Road and Rail Project; Ethiopia-Sudan power transmission Interconnector project; the Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya (ZTK) power interconnector project; the Batoka Gorge Hydropower Project and the Inga 3 hydroelectric project.

The African Development Bank’s role as Executing Agency for these projects covers responsibility for contractual, financial, technical and administrative management of the programme, including responsibility for procurement procedures, in conformity with its existing regulations, budget management and disbursements.

PIDA is successor to the NEPAD Medium to Long Term Strategic Framework (MLTSF).