Sahara Calls for More Capital to Bridge Africa’s Infrastructure Gap

Sahara Power Enterprise Group has called for stronger mobilisation of sustainable investment and climate finance to help close Africa’s infrastructure financing gap and support long-term economic growth.

Speaking at a United Nations General Assembly roundtable on sustainable global investment, economic resilience and climate financing, the Group Managing Director of Sahara Power Enterprise Group, Dr Kola Adesina, said Africa’s development ambitions depended on sustained investment in energy, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and enterprise development.

Adesina noted that almost 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity, while the continent faces an estimated annual infrastructure financing gap of $68bn to $108bn.

He said climate finance was equally critical, particularly as African economies face increasing exposure to droughts, floods, extreme heat and other climate-related risks.

According to him, African countries require about $277bn annually to implement their climate commitments, compared with current climate-finance flows of roughly $30bn per year, highlighting the need for innovative financing mechanisms.

Adesina called for stronger project preparation, increased mobilisation of African institutional capital, deeper local-currency financing markets and greater regional collaboration in energy, transport and logistics.

He said such measures would help channel more investment into productive capacity, job creation, reliable infrastructure and sustainable economic growth across the continent.