While the number of water projects under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) has increased significantly from the first PIDA Priority Action Plan (PAP) to the second, more effort is required to find the funding for the projects.

The number of water projects under consideration for implementation under PIDA has increased from 2% of the first PIDA PAP, which concluded in 2020, to 17% of the second PAP, which will run from 2021 to 2030.

“Forty-two of the 242 projects that were submitted by member States through their regional economic committees (RECs) under the PIDA PAP were from the water sector, a significant improvement over the nine projects that featured in the PIDA PAP 1 project list,” says African Union Development Agency (AUDA) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme management and delivery director Amine Adoum.

However, further urgent and concerted effort is required to find financing – both private and national – for priority projects to meet Africa’s growing water needs, he told delegates at a water session during the sixth PIDA Week yearly conference held in January.

The session, ‘Mobilising Resources for PIDA Water Projects’, convened by Global Water Partnership (GWP) Africa and AUDA-NEPAD, also involved the sharing of strategies and experiences for the mobilisation of resources to transform the investment outlook for the PIDA water projects and other transboundary water projects prioritised by lake and river basin organisations (LRBOs) and RECs.

AUDA-NEPAD principal programme officer Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere explains that the PIDA water programme was launched in collaboration with GWP following a 2017 review of transboundary water projects under PIDA PAP 1, which revealed little progress in the implementation of water projects, compared with the other three PIDA focus areas, namely information and communication technology, energy and transport.

The PIDA water programme addresses low capacity for project preparation, inadequate financing, lack of clear institutional arrangements for implementing the PIDA PAP, and includes the role of the RECs, LRBOs and member States.

“The PIDA PAP 2 project list needs to reflect Africa’s growing and urgent need for water. We need to strengthen the institutions on the continent that manage transboundary water resources, including cooperation between regions to ensure maximum stakeholder cooperation,” she adds.

As lack of financing remains a critical challenge for PIDA water projects, AUDA and GWP are developing a resource mobilisation strategy to promote the financing of PIDA PAP 2 priority water projects to potential public and private sector financiers and broker strategic links between project owners and suitable financiers, while providing ongoing facilitation of resource mobilisation through project cycles, says GWP Southern Africa transboundary water governance and environment specialist Dr Loreen Katiyo.

However, private-sector investment in the African water sector needs to increase.

“Only $3.093-billion was invested in sub-Saharan African water projects since 1992, compared with $41.7-billion in East Asia and the Pacific and $36-billion in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1990,” says Development Bank of Southern Africa regional fund manager for the Southern African Development Community Water Fund Graham Chingambu.