Africa reviews its $160bn list of cross-border projects
The African Union has begun a mid-term check on 69 regional infrastructure schemes. The question it wants answered: why are so many stuck?
Addis Ababa — The African Union has launched a mid-term review of the continent's flagship infrastructure programme, to find out which of its 69 cross-border projects are moving, which have stalled and what it would take to unblock them.
The steering committee of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, known as PIDA, opened the review at the end of a two-day meeting in Addis Ababa, the African Union Commission said.
What is under review
The programme covers transport, energy, shared water resources and information technology. Its current phase, which runs from 2021 to 2030, is made up of 69 regional projects with an estimated cost of $160.7 billion.
The review will:
- establish the status of each project;
- examine the causes of delay and of long periods without progress;
- recommend whether projects should be speeded up, restructured or dealt with in some other way;
- check and correct project records, and say plainly where evidence is missing;
- assess what projects contribute to trade, industry and jobs, and not only how much has been built;
- consider proposals for new projects against agreed criteria;
- map what development partners are funding, to show overlaps and gaps.
The result is meant to be a prioritised list showing how ready each project is and how much money it still needs, to guide talks with financiers and private investors.
The test
Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, the commission's director for infrastructure and energy, said the review should explain why projects are delayed and identify the decisions and resources needed to free them. The test, he said, is whether it turns agreed priorities into coordinated action.
What the first phase delivered
The commission cites results from the programme's first ten years:
- investment commitments reached $82 billion by the end of 2020, 20% above the original estimate;
- close to 30 million people gained access to electricity;
- projects generated 112,900 direct jobs and 49,400 indirect jobs.
Who is involved
The review draws on the African Union's development agency, the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the regional economic blocs, and the bodies that manage transport corridors, power pools and shared rivers.
The next PIDA Week, the programme's annual gathering of project owners and financiers, is planned for Brazzaville in the first quarter of 2027.
Source: African Union Commission, 6 October 2026.
