Development group to facilitate $1.6b investments in Nigeria, others

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) said its new strategic framework for 2030 aims to attract $1.6 billion in funding to emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs, including Nigeria, as well as deliver $9 billion in commitments.

The group said the framework is expected to mobilise $25 billion in additional finance over 10 years to benefit 100 million people in EMDCs. The accelerated movement of finance, the group said, would be targeted at moving markets and stimulating flows worth many multiples of their original value.

While introducing its 2030 strategy at a business reception in London recently, Chief Executive Officer of PIDG, Philippe Valahu, who expressed excitement at the new deal, said with the new strategy, PIDG was entering a new chapter – one that would be defined by a focus on climate and nature, together with sustainable development.

He noted that the private sector has a key role to play to develop and finance infrastructure that delivers economic opportunities and climate resilience for all.

He said working even more systematically in partnership with the private sector, development finance institutions, and providers of catalytic capital would be critical for successful delivery.

The PIDG boss affirmed the company’s leadership position as a mover and multiplier of infrastructure finance in sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia.

According to him, climate and nature, together with sustainable development are the core focuses of the new strategy and will inform all of PIDG’s infrastructure financing and development activities.

“Drawing on our legacy of providing new and improved access to infrastructure, we will scale our efforts through ambitious, collaborative partnership that reshapes sectors and markets for the benefit of all. We know we cannot address the scale of challenge on our own – this strategy is a call to collaborate, to make it happen together,” he said.

Over the last 20 years, he said PIDG has successfully delivered 211 infrastructure projects, providing 222 million people with access to improved infrastructure.

He said it has mobilised $40bn of investment in PIDG projects, of which $25bn were commitments from the private sector. Valahu stressed that PIDG’s new strategy is designed to build the momentum it has created while responding to the macro-trends that are reshaping the infrastructure market in EMDCs.

These, he said include strong economic headwinds, the acceleration of the climate crisis and a changing geopolitical context. Working against this backdrop, the PIDG chief said the group aims to improve climate resilience and economic opportunities for 100 million people by 2030.

It aimed to avoid future greenhouse gas emissions in emerging markets and support leapfrogging carbon technologies, as well as demonstrate how infrastructure could deliver gender equality and inclusive opportunities, alongside nature conservation, restoration, and regeneration.

UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, said: “The Private Infrastructure Development Group’s new strategy will help deliver more climate resilient infrastructure across developing countries in Africa and Asia. PIDG has over two decades of expertise in creating development impact and has given over 222m people access to new or improved infrastructure. The UK is proud to be a long-standing supporter and funder of this brilliant organisation.”

The group stated that PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Germany and the IFC.