AfDB VP Calls for Accelerated Green Infrastructure in Africa
By Zannah Ibrahim Mustapha
Editor -In -Chief
Kanempress Digital Hub
4th March 2025
At the 2025 Finance in Common Summit in Cape Town, Solomon Quaynor, Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), emphasized the need to speed up green infrastructure development in Africa. He highlighted the importance of accelerating project timelines from 10 years to just 3 years to address Africa’s infrastructure gap.
Quaynor called for a shift toward prioritizing green infrastructure projects, leveraging both public and private sector instruments to attract investment. He stressed that innovative technical assistance (TA) could help bridge financing gaps, de-risk investments, and strengthen institutional capacity, ultimately accelerating the continent’s economic transformation.
The AfDB is supporting initiatives like the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA) to foster sustainable development and scale up successful projects. Quaynor urged a more competitive and scalable approach to infrastructure development, ensuring that both governments and private investors are aligned to create bankable and impactful projects.
The summit also explored how development finance institutions (DFIs), public development banks, and the private sector can collaborate more effectively, using TA to create the enabling environment needed for private sector mobilization. The key takeaway was the need for faster, greener, and more innovative solutions to meet Africa’s infrastructure needs.
