Month: December 2023

About Scale Up of Africa’s Sustainable Built Environment

Mr Mohammed

Story: Mohammed A. Abu A one-day maiden Africa Continental Sustainable Built Environment Industry Summit (ACEACFMS 23) ended successfully at East Legon, Ghana’s capital city of Accra on Thursday December 14, with a formal declaration of the event as an annual one. The declaration was made by Mr. Daniel Kontie President/CEO of the Africa Continental Engineering & Construction Network(ACECEN), Earlier in his welcome address during the event he said that, the African Built Environment must be placed in a position to transition from the current brown construction techniques to Green building…

African Development Bank approves $696.41 million of financing for Burundi and Tanzania to build 650 kilometers of rail infrastructure to develop the Central Corridor network

Mr Mohammed

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, December 13, 2023/ — The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved various financing structures valued at $696.41 million for Burundi and Tanzania to start Phase II of the Joint Tanzania-Burundi-DR Congo Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project. The Bank Group’s financing is intended to construct 651 kilometers on the Tanzania-Burundi railway line. The work will consist of the development of a single electrified standard gauge track. This will be subdivided into three lots: Tabora – Kigoma (411 km) and Uvinza – Malagarasi…

Africa Must Set the Timing for its Energy Transition, Whether the World Likes It or Not

Mr Mohammed

About a year ago, before COP27 began in Egypt, Fiona Harvey and Matthew Taylor wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian that it was time for gas exploration in Africa to stop. “Africa must embrace renewable energy, and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said,” they wrote. This is hardly new. For several years now, wealthy nations and environmental organizations have been…

West Africa’s Energy Transition Offers $1T+ in Investment Opportunities

Mr Mohammed

PARIS, France, December 11, 2023/ — West Africa is home to a diverse landscape of energy players, from mature petroleum producers to emerging gas frontiers. For established markets, the energy transition requires decarbonizing and optimizing existing operations, while bringing renewable energy and carbon capture technologies to the forefront. Meanwhile, frontier markets are seeking to build sustainable energy mixes from the ground up, relying on integrated gas developments to fuel their transition. As a result, an array of partnership and investment opportunities are shaping the region, which European and global investors…

As Conference of the Parties (COP28) Wraps Up, We Must Remember, Aid to Africa Is (Still!) Not the Answer (By NJ Ayuk)

Mr Mohammed

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, December 10, 2023/ — By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber (www.EnergyChamber.org). There was an era when Africa and Western pop music were closely linked. Western entertainers spearheaded a number of internationally renowned events to raise awareness about the plight of starving Africans and generate funds for famine relief. In December 1984, the supergroup Band Aid sang about feeding the world, asking “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” Within a year, the group had raised over USD9 million. Three months later, USA for Africa released “We Are the…

African Nations Must Reject Promises of Aid and Handouts to Abandon Their Oil and Gas As COP28 Wraps Up

Mr Mohammed

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber There was an era when Africa and Western pop music were closely linked. Western entertainers spearheaded a number of internationally renowned events to raise awareness about the plight of starving Africans and generate funds for famine relief. In December 1984, the supergroup Band Aid sang about feeding the world, asking “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” Within a year, the group had raised over USD9 million. Three months later, USA for Africa released “We Are the World” and banked USD44.5 million after one…

African Development Bank approves $66 million loan for equity enhancement of Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank

Mr Mohammed

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, December 10, 2023/ — The African Development Bank Group’s (www.AfDB.org) Board of Directors has approved a $66 million loan to the government of Tanzania for additional equity in Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB). The financing will enable TADB to strengthen its capital and enhance the structure and effectiveness of financial and non-financial services it offers to entrepreneurs in the agriculture and related value chains. The Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank Phase II project will also receive $950,000 in technical assistance from the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in…

Amid rising corruption, most Africans say they risk retaliation if they speak up, new Afrobarometer Pan-Africa Profile reveals

Mr Mohammed

ACCRA, Ghana, December 10, 2023/ — A majority of Africans say that corruption in their country is rising, that their government is failing in its efforts to fight it, and that ordinary citizens risk retaliation if they report corruption to the authorities, Afrobarometer’s (www.Afrobarometer.org) latest Pan-Africa Profile (https://apo-opa.co/41k8N4i) reveals. Download document (1): https://apo-opa.co/3NmOey6 Download document (2): https://apo-opa.co/3RDm193 Released ahead of International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December), the Afrobarometer report is based on nationally representative surveys in 39 African countries. Findings show that among key public institutions, the police are most widely perceived as corrupt. In…

South Africa: African Development Bank approves $1 billion guarantee from the United Kingdom to support SA’s Just Energy Transition

Mr Mohammed

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, December 10, 2023/ — The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a $1 billion guarantee program in collaboration with the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which will allow the Bank to increase its lending capacity in support of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET). Developed in close collaboration with the government of the Republic of South Africa, the program will support projects aligned with South Africa’s JET investment plan, such as transmission and grid-balancing storage, renewable energy generation, energy…

  African Countries Should Reject Anti-Fossil Fuel Policies at COP 28

Mr Mohammed

The Executive Chairman of the South Africa based Africa Energy Chamber,N.J.Ayuk  has taken a swipe at the climate agenda describing it as hypocritical, biased, unjust and that it also poses a direct threat towards Africa’s development, and countries should remain resilient in their efforts to defend their right to utilize oil and gas. “With COP 28 set to conclude in the coming days, a COP where African countries fiercely defended the role oil and gas plays across the continent,it has become clear that developed nations seem committed to phasing out…