March 28, 2024

AfDB offers $1million technical, investment grant to Nigeria, Rwanda, others to accelerate green transportation

The African Development Bank(AfDB) Group, has revealed the plan to offer Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa a $1 million technical assistance and investment capital grant to aid Green Mobility Facility for Africa (GMFA) through an instrument tagged “Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA)” dedicated to accelerating and expanding private sector investments in sustainable transport solutions in seven countries.

This was revealed in a recent statement released by the bank, and obtained by EnergyDay.

EnergyDay gathered that the AfDB’s SEFA is a multi-donor Special Fund that provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The SEFA offers technical assistance and concessional finance instruments to remove market barriers, build a more robust pipeline of projects and improve the risk-return profile of individual investments.

The Fund’s overarching goal is to contribute to universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services for all in Africa, in line with the New Deal on Energy for Africa and Sustainable Development Goal 7.

Nnenna Nwabufo, the Director-General of the Bank’s East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office said, “Mobility is a fundamental lifeline that connects people to critical services, jobs, education, and opportunities.

“The African Development Bank is committed to building a sustainable and more climate-resilient future by catalysing private investment in low-carbon solutions.

“We believe GMFA will have a tremendous impact on the African market by accelerating the shift to green mobility, reducing over 2,175,000 carbon dioxide equivalent tons of greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating the creation of 19,000 full-time jobs, ”Nwabufo said.

Clare Akamanzi, Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Development Board in his statement said, “Future demand for mobility solutions and vehicle ownership is expected to increase with rapid urbanisation, population growth, and economic development.

“We are delighted to receive this support from AfDB. We see this as a vote of confidence in our efforts to shift to e-mobility solutions and advance Rwanda’s transition to a low-carbon economy,” Akamanzi said.

Rwanda is one of seven pilot countries for GMFA.

EnergyDay’s check showed that the SEFA grant will support the creation of an enabling environment for Electric vehicles (EVs), the design of EV business models and guidelines for the public and private sectors, the development of a bankable pipeline of e-mobility projects, regional coordination, and knowledge-sharing amongst other upstream activities to help catalyse follow-on private sector financing during the subsequent investment phase of the GMFA.