SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency ( NPCA) CEO Dr Ibrahim Essane Mayaki signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) in Gaborone, Botswana on March 19, 2015.
The purpose of the MoU is to establish a legal framework of cooperation between the parties through which the NEPAD Agency will provide grant support to the SADC Secretariat under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa Capacity Building Project (PIDA CAP) and outline the modalities through which grant support from the African Development Bank, through the NEPAD Agency, to the SADC Secretariat will be used to assist SADC to participate fully in the PIDA Programme.
The main objectives of the MoU are to set out the work flow; funds flow; coordination; and working relationship for project implementation.
The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) was approved by the African Heads of State and Government at their Summit held in Addis Ababa in January 2012. PIDA is a priority programme of infrastructure investments in energy, transport, ICT and trans-boundary water aimed at connecting and integrating Africa to support its growth and development objectives. The PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP) has an investment portfolio amounting to US$68bn programmed over the period 2012 to 2020 comprising 51 programmes and projects in energy, transport, ICT and trans-boundary water.
Out of the 51 Programmes and Projects decomposed to 433 projects, SADC has 34 projects as part of the PIDA PAP decomposed list. The PIDA CAP will therefore support the Secretariat and Member States to fast track implementation of these projects.
