Britain on Monday committed £100-million ($147-million) to boost key trade routes in sub-Saharan Africa, saying a further $1-billion had been pledged by partners.
“The UK government today committed £s;100-million to transform regional infrastructure and increase trade across Africa,” the Department of International Development (DFID) said in the Zambian capital.
Development partners had agreed to more than $1-billion to upgrade road, rail and ports and support trade in the region, DFID said in a statement.
The announcements came at the launch of a north-south corridor to be financed by public and private investors, including the World Bank, European Commission, regional economic communities and development agencies, DFID said.
“The north-south corridor will improve transport networks and encourage new investment that will, over time, increase prosperity and reduce poverty in the region,” British Trade Minister Gareth Thomas said in Lusaka.
In Brussels, the European Commission announced that it had also pledged €115-million ($154-million) to the infrastructure project.
“It’s very clear that Africa is being hit by wave after wave of aftershocks from the financial crisis,” said EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.
“This regional response to free-up trade and stimulate growth and jobs is essential at this time and for the long-term development of Africa’s economy.”
Addressing the launch, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that infrastructure development on the continent had lagged.
“The biggest problems for Africa in the last 500 years has been lack of social transformation. Africa’s social transformation has been the way it was 500 years ago,” Museveni said.
The corridor aims to remove trade bottlenecks in eight countries: Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa. – AFP