21 Dec 2022

Botswana on Tuesday signed the Africa50 share subscription agreement making it the 30th African country to be a shareholder, says the organisation’s chief executive officer Mr Alain Ebobisse.

Africa50 was established by African governments and the African Development Bank to help bridge Africa’s infrastructure funding gap by  facilitating project development, mobilising public and private sector finance and investment.

“The agreement will be instrumental in aiding government’s efforts to implement and monitor public-private partnership projects and as Africa50, we look forward to investing in infrastructure projects in Botswana,” said Mr Ebobisse in an interview following his courtesy call on President Dr Mokgweetsi  Masisi yesterday.

The agreement, he said, testified to government’s  commitment to fast-track the delivery of sustainable infrastructure development.

Mr  Ebobisse said the partnership would also play a big role in facilitating completion of government  infrastructure development  projects.

“It is worth noting that African  governments are  in most  cases  funding infrastructure development, something which Africa50 is keen  to  turn around and  catalyse  the  involvement  of the private  sector,” he said.

 Mr Ebobisse said in the  case  of Botswana, Africa50 would cohesively  work  with  government  to speed  up  more private sector investment in infrastructure  development.

In so  doing, the organisation  would  be supporting  Botswana’s economic  growth as well as its job creation drive.

 “Botswana has huge  investment potential in the many  sectors  of  the  economy  and we  would  be  relying on the  country’s national development plans  to further  guide  on which sectors to  invest in,” he said.

Mr Ebobisse said there were opportunities in renewable and green energy as well as infrastructure.

The implementation and completion of such projects  would  generate  jobs and boost economic growth, he said.

“We are committed to bring infrastructure projects to financial close and commercial operations as quickly as possible for greater impact.

Accelerating the delivery of infrastructure helps create a virtuous circle: investors get a fair return and citizens get services and access to opportunities, while governments can highlight their success to attract additional investment,” said Mr Ebobisse. ENDs