• Your Excellency, Honourable Doto Mashaka Biteko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of the United Republic of Tanzania;
• Excellencies and Honourable Ministers;
• Heads and Representatives of the African Union Development Agency, African Development Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, AfreExim Bank and the Regional Economic Communities;
• Distinguished Delegates;
• Ladies and Gentlemen:

• All protocol observed.

Habari ya Asubuhi (Good morning)

1. On behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and on my own behalf, I welcome you to the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Transport, Transcontinental and Interregional Infrastructure and Energy. Habari na Karibu!!

2. The Specialised Technical Committee has always been a platform for our Member States to take stock of the activities of its continental and regional institutions and provide high-level guidance on the implementation of their priorities.

3. First, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to the President and the entire people of Zanzibar for co-organising and hosting the Fourth STC and their warm welcome in this exquisite, peaceful and vibrant Island. I also take this opportunity to thank and recognise the[KK1]  efforts by our key partners including the African Development Bank, the African Union Development Agency, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the AFREXIM Bank, GIZ, and the AEEP in ensuring the successful organisation of this important STC.

4. For me, it is a privilege to lead the STC meetings from the First STC in Lomé in 2017, to the second STC in Cairo in 2019, the third STC in 2021, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic all the way to this Fourth one being held in this beautiful Island of Zanzibar. During this time, I have witnessed the great commitment, passion and collaboration shown by our Member States, continental and regional institutions as well as our partners in steering universal infrastructure access for all Africans. Various continental and innovative strategies and action plans to support the AU Agenda 2063 have been developed, adopted and implemented during this period.

5. I must stress the Fourth STC is coming at a very crucial time for Africa and the entire global community. The world is just in the process of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused serious impacts on communities, economies as well as loss of lives around the world. The recent ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, which has disrupted supply chains around the world, has negatively impacted on energy supplies, food security and economic stability. The continuing and devastating impacts of climate change on local, national and global economies and communities is also serving as a wake-up call for us to enhance and harmonise our strategies and actions for a more climate resilient ecosystem.

6. Recognising these challenges in addition to the persistent development issues on the continent, the African Union Commission is taking a holistic and more responsive approach in developing its second ten-year action plan for the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063.

7. Access to adequate and sustainable infrastructure will be the key enabler to address all these challenges and in the acceleration of the achievement of the AU Agenda 2063 objectives including initiatives such as the African Continental Free-Trade Area, Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme and the Accelerated Industrial Development in Africa programme. That is why the focus of the Fourth STC is to deliberate on “Accelerating Infrastructure to Deliver on the AU Agenda 2063 Aspirations”.

Your Excellency the President,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

8. Accelerating Africa’s infrastructure development is a matter of priority. The current pace of infrastructure development on the continent is not enough to keep up with rising demand from communities and markets, which is having an impact on Africa's competitiveness and participation in global markets. The poor state of infrastructure has led to the reduction of national economic growth by 2% annually in most African countries and as much as 40% reduction in industrial productivity.

9.  At the current pace of energy development in Africa, 570 million people will still be left without access by 2030, representing 85% of those who lack access at the global level. The cost of transportation in Africa is on average 50 – 175% higher than other parts of the world as a result of poor infrastructure. About 60,000km and 100,000km of new roads are required to provide effective intracontinental connectivity in Africa by 2030. This requires huge efforts from all stakeholders.

10. Adequate financing remains a critical issue for infrastructure development in Africa. African Governments have spent about 3.5% of their GDP on infrastructure development over the last 20 years, which is encouraging but not enough. This is also low compared to China and India, who spend 7.7% and 5.2% of their GDP on infrastructure, respectively. A recent report by McKinsey recommends spending at least 4.5% of GDP on infrastructure development to ramp up domestic investments.

11. The task at hand is great but it is not impossible. I can assure you that the African Union Commission is fully committed to continue delivering on key initiatives in collaboration with Member States and our partners. Our major goal is to accelerate implementation of projects on the ground and the development of cohesive, impactful and harmonised policies as well as mobilisation of financial and technical resources to support the provision of universal infrastructure services on the continent.

Your Excellency the President,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

12. The implementation of the second Priority Action Plan of the PIDA Programme – PIDA-PAP 2, is already under way. The PIDA-PAP 2, which was adopted by Heads of State and Government in 2021 already contains 69 large-scale projects expected to cost more than US$160 billion over its ten-year implementation plan. Despite the laudable achievements and the learning curves over the first ten-years implementation of PIDA, it is fair to assume more could have been achieved in terms of projects financing and implementation. Out of over 430 projects in PIDA PAP 1, about 50% of the projects failed to reach the construction stage while 30% failed to go beyond the feasibility stage. There is great optimism that PIDA PAP2 will achieve much greater results compared to the previous implementation phase.

13. In the energy sector, regional integration of our systems will be important to create larger markets and accelerate the rate of access. That is why the Heads of State and Government launched the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) in 2021. This programme aims to harmonise policies and regulatory frameworks that will facilitate the creation of a single electricity market. The AUC is already in the process of establishing the Strategic Planning and Coordination Unit within the Department of Infrastructure and Energy in collaboration with our partners to steer the implementation of the action plans. Complementing the AfSEM is the Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP), which aims to identify and mobilise resources for the building of large-scale power plants and interconnectors across the continent.

14. Recognising the huge challenges of our Island States in accessing sustainable energy, often relying on expensive fossil fuel imports and subsidies, and the special needs in terms of integration to regional initiatives, the AUC is in the process of implementing a programme on Renewable Energy in Africa Island States. The programme aims to implement strategies and action plans to facilitate mobilisation of climate and innovative financing for sustainable energy infrastructure in the Island States, which will greatly benefit Zanzibar.

15. The United Republic of Tanzania is also one of the beneficiaries of the AU Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility, which provides grants to public and private sector geothermal projects developers, for surface studies and confirmation drilling. Initially, the programme focused on power generation infrastructure, but it has now been extended to include energy for direct use, which will be beneficial to small and medium scale industries in Eastern Africa including Tanzania.

16.  Tanzania with its huge natural gas and renewable energy resources could be a major producer and exporter of blue and green hydrogen respectively. The African Common Position on Energy Access and Transition, which was adopted in July 2022 by the AU Executive Council calls for the utilisation of both renewable and non-renewable energy resources to fast-track modern energy access on the continent. The AUC believes that natural gas provides a long-term option for accelerating access to electricity and clean cooking in Africa in addition to facilitating industrialisation. The AUC is already implementing programmes on oil and natural gas, green hydrogen and clean cooking.

Your Excellency the President,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

17. Facilitating access to modernised and integrated transport infrastructure is also one of the key objectives of the African Union Commission. We are already in the process of implementing the Single Africa Air Transport Market. About 36 Member States, representing 90% of air transport traffic have already joined the SAATM. The AUC and AFCAC in collaboration with partners are working on the liberalisation of markets through the development of polices, regulations and dispute settlement mechanisms, among others. The AUC programmes on Maritime aim to enhance efficiencies of ports, creation of green transport corridors and integrating ports for cost effective transport of goods and people. The AUC and its partners have recently created the Green Ports Forum as well as working on Green Infrastructure Corridors to support intra-African trade, which will ensure accelerated access to efficient transport services while also enhancing climate resilience. I am sure Zanzibar stands to benefit greatly from these initiatives.

Your Excellency the President,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

18. I take this opportunity to congratulate the outgoing Bureau of the STC for their collaboration, support and dedicated efforts in steering the overall agenda and action plans of the AUC and its partners. I wish to acknowledge Honourable Neo Matjato Moteane, Minister of Public Works and Transport of the Kingdom of Lesotho, for his excellent and insightful leadership of the STC Bureau.

19. I wish to also thank and congratulate the experts from our Member States and key partners for their tireless efforts over the last 3 days in consolidating their technical inputs and steering the implementation of programmes and action plans of the STC.

20. I am using this platform to once again call upon all stakeholders including financial institutions, the private and public sectors, civil societies, and research institutions, amongst others, from all parts of the world to join us in the implementation of our infrastructure agenda in Africa.

21. I also call upon the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and all Member States to continue to champion, promote and contribute to the AU Agenda 2063 in order to realise the Africa We All Want.[KK2]

Asante Sana!!!!