Consulting engineering group Aurecon is in the process of updating and repackaging the African Union Commission’s (AUC’s) Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (Pida) priority action plan and expects to finalise the work package by September.

The company was awarded the $399 000 contract by the African Development Bank (AfDB) earlier in the year, following a competitive bidding process.

The AfDB has been supporting the Pida initiative ever since its endorsement by the African heads of State and government at the eighteenth AU Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2012. But the AUC’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency is responsible for the overall initiative.

The Pida action plan currently com- prises a portfolio of 51 transborder energy, transport, communications and water projects to be implemented by 2020.

Collectively valued at $68-billion, the projects have been included for their potential to reduce those infrastructural backlogs undermining Africa’s competitiveness, as well as prospects for higher levels of intraregional trade and investment.

Aurecon’s Tshwane office is overseeing a multilingual team comprising some 20 individuals, which is busy with the action-plan updating process. New project summaries are being compiled to reflect the current status of each project, some of which are still in the preparation phase, while others are being implemented.

Aurecon project leader James Scheepers says the objective is to close the gap between information on progress with the implementation of the 51-project action plan and to develop comprehensive and detailed project briefs.

The updated briefs will include the context and objectives of the projects, as well as anticipated outcomes and impacts. They will also outline funding mechanisms, project readiness, the strategic function of infrastructure, likely benefits and risks, as well as the approach being taken to implement them, including opportunities for partnerships.

The key enabling legal, policy and regulatory measures required for accelerating implementation will also be included, along with any capacity gaps and required interventions.