Heads of State from seven African countries on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) will, every six months, account for the progress, or lack thereof, of a regional infrastructure development project for which they are responsible.

This Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (Pici) is aimed at accelerating continental infrastructure projects identified by the Programme for the Infrastructural Development of Africa (Pida); the reputation of the State heads will be linked with the success or failure of their allocated projects, Pici coordinator Dr John Tambi reported last week.

Speaking at the Nepad Infrastructure Africa conference, he asserted that the initiative had become a “blueprint” for tackling regional infrastructure projects, which ensured greater continuity and resource mobilisation.

“When a President is involved in a project and has a vested interest, it is easier to attract private-sector financing. It also means that Pida has an implementation plan that identifies who does what and who is accountable for what. Previously, regional projects didn’t have accountability,” he commented.

Tambi added that the success of a regional development project was contingent on its inclusion in the country’s national development agenda and its acknowledgement as a national priority project.

“I believe the strength of Pida’s potential will be realised through Pici, given the fact that the President has to report on the progress of the project to the HSGOC chairperson every six months. The HSGOC, in turn, reports to the African Union (AU) assembly. This has a ‘naming and shaming’ implication,” he said.

African Development Bank (AfDB) chief infrastructure and public–private partnership (PPP) specialist Mtchera Chirwa added that Pici provided greater impetus for governments and their implementing agencies to access financing and establish PPP agreements for project advancement.

The $360-billion Pida – under which Pici’s eight Presidentially administered projects fall – was initiated by the AU Commission, the Nepad Agency and the AfDB, with a view to creating regional economic integration by bridging the continent’s extensive infrastructure gap.

Endorsed by African heads of State and government at an AU Summit, in Addis Ababa, in January last year, it identified 51 projects for development by 2040, which would enable improved interconnection and integration between regions and countries.

South African President Jacob Zuma is championing the North–South Corridor road and rail projects, which will stretch from Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, across the Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to South Africa.

The twenty-ninth meeting of the Nepad HSGOC was held on May 25.