The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (IPPF) has suggested that a one-stop-shop initiative – comprising a project hub and a help desk – be established to promote bankable projects in Africa, with the aim of increasing the accessibility of credible information for investors and to establish a regional, country-linked information hub.

Nepad, an African Union planning body, suggested in a statement released late last month that the establishment of a centralised platform detailing bankable projects could list the projects and also outline their financial readiness in terms of the transparency of their procurement practices, their tenure, risks and returns and the availability of cofinancing and the depth of local capital markets, among other definitive factors.

“Bankable investment opportunities in Africa need to be unlocked to attract regional and international investors,” noted Nepad IPPF coordinator Shem Simuyemba.

He suggested that the one-stop-shop initiative be housed by the African Development Bank to ensure credibility and confidence for both project owners and potential investors.

“The important point to remember is that projects need to be bankable from the point of view of the person who will provide the risk capital to make the project happen. While bankability is about figures, it is also about risk and reality and these factors all go together in making an investment decision,” Simuyemba explained.

The Nepad IPPF proposed that each country in Africa should have a window linked to the centralised hub.

Earlier this year, investors lamented the absence of bankable, investment-ready projects tailored to the needs of public financiers, concessionaires, public–private partnerships and the private sector.

Investors had noted that the appetite to invest depended on risk considerations that were very different, depending on whether the investor was a development finance institution, a project developer or a private investor.