Africa Launches Continetal Programme For Infrastructure Development
KAMPALA – The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) was officially launched on Saturday in Kampala, on the sidelines of the XV African Union Summit in Uganda.
Previous African Union Summits, particularly those of January 2009 on the development of Transport and Energy and January 2010 on the development of Information and Communication Technologies, supported the strengthening of infrastructure in Africa and notably endorsed PIDA as a program for integrating all regional and continental initiatives.
The official launch was a formal event highlighting PIDA and contributing to disseminate information to political organs and leaders as well as to the public at large, at continental and
international levels. To that end the 15th ordinary session of the AU Assembly offers the opportunity to bring all African leaders together.
Referring to the presentation made by the PIDA sponsors during the ceremony, African leaders reiterated their support to the initiative and urged PIDA stakeholders including Regional Economic Communities, Member States, specialized institutions and Africa’s development partners to support PIDA and participate in its implementation.
In brief, the PIDA is an initiative of the AU Commission (AUC), the AfDB and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. It covers the Energy, Transport, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and Water (Transboundary) sectors, and will be implemented in two major phases: the study phase and implementation phase.
The main objective of PIDA is to maximize efforts and use of resources and to enable African stakeholders to speak with one voice on the basis of a common agenda and a common vision for infrastructure development.
