President of African Development Bank Group Akinwumi Adesina has reiterated the bank’s support for the development of regional infrastructure corridors to boost the continent’s integration and economic transformation.

Adesina said this when he met with Kenya’s ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire Christopher Andrew Lang’at, who had paid him a courtesy call at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.

“It is  only through regional corridors that we can move goods and services easily across the continent, lower transport costs, promote integration and achieve impactful economic development,” said Adesina.

In a press release, Adesina cited the upgrade from single lane to dual carriageway of the 84 kilometre Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road that is part of the Great North Highway that runs from Cairo in Egypt to South Africa’s Cape Town.

Other bank-financed projects include the Last-Mile Connectivity Project that has connected over 2.2 million people to electricity since 2015. Still in East Africa, in 2024, the Bank provided $696 million in partial credit guarantee to unlock $3.9 billion for the construction of the Central Corridor Standard Gauge Railway to connect Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over a third of the bank’s investments in Kenya goes into transport infrastructure, with about 20 percent of that going into regional and multinational operations boosting the country’s regional integration agenda.

During the meeting Amb Lang’at lauded the bank’s contribution to Kenya’s development and that of the entire continent, through high-impact financing across infrastructure, food production and economic inclusion of women and youth.

“I commend your leadership as president of the bank over the past 10 years and your efforts in transforming Africa’s development narrative through advocacy, policy dialogue and budgetary support,” said Lang’at who was accompanied by the embassy’s Minister-Counsellor Kerubo Omurwa.

Over the past decade, the African Development Bank Group has invested over $50 billion in critical utilities, making it the largest multilateral financier of infrastructure across the continent. In Kenya alone, the bank is financing 45 operations with a total commitment of nearly $4 billion.

Kenya enjoys a long history with the African Development Bank, which dates back to 1967 when, alongside Sierra Leone, it became among the pioneering two countries to benefit from the bank’s first development financing.

The Kenyan envoy and Adesina agreed there was need for more investment in Kenya’s road network such as expanding the Nairobi to western Kenya main road, passing through the country’s breadbasket region and linking to neighbouring land-locked nations of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, as well as the DR Congo.

This major trunk road is historically prone to accidents and long traffic jams, especially during festive seasons.

Last year, in May, Kenya hosted the bank’s annual meetings in Nairobi during which President William Ruto pledged a $20 million contribution to the African Development Fund, the concessional financing window of the Bank.

Adesina was accompanied by the bank’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Kevin Kariuki, the Executive Director for Eastern Africa, Jonathan Nzayikorera, the Director-General of the Bank Group President’s Office Alex Mubiru, Director of Strategy in the Office of the Bank Group President, Josiah Maximilian Jarrett Bankole and Modibo Touré, Special Envoy to the Bank Group President for Shareholder Relations in Africa.

• A Tell / KNA report / By Wangari Ndirangu