THE African Development Plan has continued to implement various infrastructure projects across Africa an d h as b een actively in ves tin g in man y projects across Africa in an effort to enhance economic development.
Only about two weeks ago, African Development Bank (AfDB) president Dr Donald Kebaruke was in Washington to receive an award on behalf of the bank at an award ceremony at the US Treasury, in which two AfDB projects received recognition.
Locally three week ago, the AfDB and International Finance Corporation (IFC) revealed plans to is sue K2.7 billion and K2.5 billion on the Lusaka Stock Exchange
before the end of the year to undertake various infrastructure, projects and lending operations in the country.
The bonds to be issued by IFC will be launched under its pan-African domestic medium-term note programme.
This programme allows IFC to issue bonds in the region while proceeds will be used to fund IFC private sector projects in infrastructure
The message from Dr Kebaruke, when he was receiving the award in Washington, was of a resurgent Africa, a place for business and for
opportunity, drawing strength from internal positive dynamics and yet still resilient to the slowdown in the global economy.
This also reiterates the many messages from economic pundits who are saying Africa is the next frontier for economic growth and is showing signs of an increasing emerging middle class that should help to propel Africa’s economic growth.
We, therefore, welcome acting President Alexander Chikwanda’s statement that AfDB G roup will improve inclusive and green growth and enhance development not just in Zambia but the rest of Africa.
Mr Chikwanda, who is also Finance Minister, said, “It is only by providing strategic policy interventions that integrate and direct various stand-alone growth processes to reinforce each other that conditions for overall development can take off on a sustainable basis.”
The Finance Minister, who said this at a launch of the AfDB group strategy for the next 10 years (2013 to 2022) is very optimistic at
Africa’s economic prospects and we support this optimism because Africa has been grow in g at ab ou t 5.3 p ercen t an d remain s resilient to the global slowdown.
We are confident the AfDB is helping to push Africa to higher growth through its investment in infrastructure and other sectors that should see Africa’s economic prospects reach higher levels.
The bank is also the implementing agency for the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA); a programme designed as a successor to the NEPAD Medium to Long Term Strategic Framework (MLTSF).
The AfDB has launched a s trategy that focuses on inclusive growth by removing gender, geographic and age barriers to trade and work opportunities, thereby enabling increased income, revenue and service provision.
The strategy has five operational priorities of infrastructure, regional integration, private sector, governance and technology which is in line with the Sixth National Development Plan that focuses on job creation, infrastructure and rural development with an emphasis on support for agriculture and private sector growth.
These are all timely interventions that should help to reduce poverty and create more opportunities for the people, the local private sector and foreign investors to come on board and help to develop the continent.
With such initiatives we can foresee a situation where more Zambians will be empowered while the infrastructure development should create more jobs for Zambians and generally lower the cost of doing business.
We can only wait and look forward to seeing AfDB fund Zambia’s infrastructure development so that the country’s growth is enhanced to help reduce poverty by creating more jobs.

Posted on : 30 Nov,-0001