Kenya is on the winning side as it has received a boost for its ongoing projects from the African hub initiative which intends to mobilize US$ 20bn for cross-border infrastructure projects.
The Lamu transport corridor project is one of the 16 developments that have been selected to benefit from the mix of charitable and development financing under the African hub initiative; this is according to The Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP) which announced the creation of a regional hub committed to African projects during the World Economic Forum Africa taking place in Kigali, Rwanda.
“The SDIP Africa Hub is an important first step which is meant to accelerate the engagement of SDIP members on the African continent. We envision the hub building local capacity to advance blended finance best practices for infrastructure investment and ensure a consistent pipeline of projects from the whole of Africa,” said Terri Toyota, head of the Foundations Community and Development Finance.
SDIP is a program hosted by the World Economic Forum and a host of well-to-do countries working under the aegis of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It has a high-profile membership by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that includes; US, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, UK, Development Bank of Southern Africa; Deutsche Bank; East Capital; European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank.
Kenya has in the past three years has aggressively been working on the Lamu corridor project commonly referred to as Lapsset (Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport corridor) and it has been keen to complete construction of Lapsset headquarters and the first Lamu port berths before opening up the project to private investors.
Rwanda is hosting more than 1,200 participants from over 70 countries in the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali.
