This involves the First Bank of Nigeria, the Guaranty Trust Bank, and Stanbic IBTC. They will be granting loans to companies to finance private infrastructure projects as or within the framework of public-private partnerships. Nigeria is also going to benefit from French assistance in financing its infrastructures.

Some weeks earlier France in fact announced the loan of 1.6 billion Dollars to the countries of the Economic Community of West African States.

French Ambassador Jean-Dumund declared that Nigeria was on the priority list of countries scheduled to benefit from the French aid programme due to its strategic position on the African continent, as the APA press agency reports.

The State is going to import 25 MW from Ghana, and has entered into negotiations with other neighbouring countries to import additional electricity.

Mr. Eddy also announced the possibility of leasing a thermal power plant of 70 MW to be installed in Vridi.

The financial cost of this plan is estimated at 72.7 million Dollars, and the State can hope to make up 91% of the electricity shortfall, according to the Fraternité Matin newspaper.

As well as this, on 4 March last Saudi Arabia granted a loan of 1,400,000 Dollars to a number of Ivory Coast organizations.

These funds are destined for the realisation of 28 projects, in particular in the sector of drinking water treatment infrastructures and equipment for health centres.

This represents a new technology for the Nigerian railway network, which is going to be used for the transport of goods and passengers. The locomotives are equipped with a 12-cylinder Diesel engine with an output of 2500 h.p.

Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO of GE Transportation, stated in a press release that “The experts from GE analyzed the Nigerian network in depth in order to determine the best locomotives to meet its needs. It is a great honour for us to be supporting the growth of the country’s railway infrastructure.” Twenty more locomotives will be delivered in the course of 2010.

An infrastructure project similar to the 11 projects carried out by the EU-African trust fund was presented by Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development at a conference on Thursday, 5 March 2010 in London.

Created in 2007, this will allow huge infrastructure projects to be financed, such as the hydro-electric power plant at Félou in West Africa, or the EASSY fibre optic submarine cable.

The Humbo Assisted Natural Regeneration Project will be implemented under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

As Africa's first forestry project on a large scale, it is hoped Ethiopia's poorer communities will see economic and social boosts.

There will also be environmental benefits because some 880,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide are expected to be cut in the next three decades.

Chief executive officer of World Vision Australia Tim Costello said: "While the income from the carbon credits is a welcome bonus, other tangible benefits from the project come from building resilience against climate impacts."

Director of sustainable development in Africa for the World Bank Inger Andersen explained that the Humbo Project has "special significance".

It was claimed that most of the country's 80 million people rely on agriculture to make a living.

According to nationmaster.com, 31.7 per cent of land in Ethiopia is agricultural, which equates to 317.90 square kilometers.

Due to take place on March 11th-12th, the forum is being hosted by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

It is hoped that the meeting will be able to look at ways to improve the railway system and go some way to putting the East African Railway Master Plan into action.

Donors and people from the public and private sectors will be in attendance.

Heads of state in the EAC have issued a master plan, which was prepared by CPCS Transcom of Canada.

Prime minister of Tanzania Mizengo Pinda will give the keynote speech at the event.

According to the EAC portal, railway operations in the region have mainly been 'concessioned', which has meant that governments now face the prospect that much of the infrastructure could shut down.

The EAC was first established in 1967 and Burundi and Rwanda became full members in 2007.

This financing is coming from the South African Development Bank and the African Development Bank, ZESA announced last Monday.

The Director General of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Association (ZESA), Ben Rafemoyo, told the PANA agency that the majority of these funds will be used to renovate existing electricity production units, as well as the thermal power station in the mining township of Hwange.

The South African electricity company Eskom has itself just been authorised to double its tariffs over three years in order to finance a programme of upgrading of its infrastructures, which includes the construction of two coal-fired power stations at Medupi and Kusile.

Eskom will  be able to increase its prices by 24.8 percent as from April, 25.8 percent in 2011, and then 25.9 percent in 2012, the President of the National Energy Regulating Authority has announced, quoted by Agence France Presse.

These are the First Bank of Nigeria, the Guaranty Trust Bank, and Stanbic IBTC. They will be granting loans to companies to finance private infrastructure projects within the framework of public-private partnership arrangements. Nigeria is likewise going to be benefiting from French aid in financing its infrastructures.

Some weeks earlier France announced the granting of 1.6 billion Dollars to the countries of the West African Economic Community of States.

French ambassador Jean-Dumund declared that Nigeria was on the priority list of countries scheduled to benefit from the French assistance programme, due to its strategic position on the African continent, as the APA press agency reports.

Lake Turkana Wind Power is Africa's largest wind power project, The East African reports.

The Spanish government's boost of $150 million (£100 million) will provide funds for the construction of the transmission line.

Arranged by the African Development Bank, the project will now see parts of northern Kenya undergo construction of transmission lines.

The publication explains that one-fifth of the country's energy generating capacity will come from the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project.

Over three stages the loan will be handed by the Spanish government to the project and will be repaid over a set period of time.

Morocco and Egypt are cited by the publication as the only other African countries to implement significant wind energy projects.

According to the wind farm project, it is "poised to provide 300 MW of clean power to Kenya's national electricity grid".

The network will allow for connection to all the other countries in the hinterland, and will be connected to the WACS submarine cable, which will extend from Cape Town in South Africa as far as the United Kingdom.

This announcement coincides with the first national meeting on cross-frontier co-operation in West Africa, held last Friday in Dakar.

The aim was to bring together the different parties involved in the infrastructure sector and in other cross-frontier co-operation projects in order to promote and encourage initiatives in this sector.

The Director General of International Co-operation, Sheik Ibrahim Diongue, told the daily Le Soleil that the objective is “a West Africa which is better integrated on the political, social, and economic levels, and also to ensure solidarity in the establishment of peace and security, as well as the development of exchanges.”

On March 1st the group's head of poverty reduction and social protection division Sunita Pitamber will coordinate the forum in Tunis.

When asked what the meeting will discuss, Ms Pitamber replied that non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations will play a key role in discussions.

It is hoped that civil society will be able to consult with the bank's representative about the continent's development.

A committee to combine the AfDB and NGOs has been in operation since 1999 and looks at issues such as social and environmental projects.

Ms Pitamber hopes that the meeting in Tunisia will "revitalise" the committee's work so that it can continue to operate with society.

Tunis will also play host to a board meeting for the Coalition for Dialogue in Africa this weekend.

According to the AfDB, the previous meeting looked at how the global financial crisis would affect Africa.

One project is going to be carried out in Port-Gentil, involving the sewage treatment system of the city, the upgrading of the waste water treatment network, the construction of 1000 latrines, and the establishment of a facility for treating the waste from septic tanks.

In the transport sector, an agreement worth 4.7 million Dollars has been signed for the construction of the Boulingui bridge to the south of Libreville, in order to facilitate movements and allow for improvement in economic activity in this region.

The French Bolloré Group will be undertaking the work of uprating the capacities of the port of Owendo, which is scheduled to start at the beginning of July.

Estimated at 61.7 million Dollars, the plans are to extend the port by 300 metres in order to enlarge its capacities and cover international demand.

This includes a large number of renewable energy projects over the 2010-16 period, and will be making recourse to a number of Tunisian and foreign partners.

Abdelaziz Rassaa, Secretary of State responsible for renewable energy and food industries, recalled during the debate that the plan comprises forty complementary projects, covering in particular solar energy, wing power, and energy efficiency.

He added that the total amount of investments is estimated at 2700 million Dollars, the majority of which will be deriving from private funds.

In addition to this, it has just been learned that five French, Moroccan, and Tunisian companies are going to band together in a major renewable energy project, the Desertec Project.

The aim is to create a vast network of wind power and solar installations in North Africa and the Middle East, which over the next 40 years will provide a large part of the electricity for Europe and Africa.

President Jacob Zuma made the claim during an interview with the Financial Times yesterday (February 24th).

He said that the World Cup is expected to have a "huge economic impact" on the country and will show the world South Africa's capabilities.

"But also I think it has left a lot of workers with skills, who have been doing the infrastructure," Mr Zuma added.

Large sums of money have been invested in the infrastructure so that momentum will continue after the competition ends.

He also noted that the country have already finished work on most of the stadiums, which shows its capabilities.

South Africa's official website reveals that architect Bob van Bebber proposed the plans for the Soccer City stadium in 1991.

The finished construction will seat more than 88,000 spectators when the World Cup begins in June.

Where Africa is concerned, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and the Republic of South Africa are the only countries to achieve classification in the 100 countries best equipped with regard to IT infrastructures.

The use of IT has increased everywhere in the world, and prices have come down, but there are a considerable number of African countries which still have very restricted access, particular with regard to the broadband infrastructure, as the report emphasises.

The development of IT in Africa was also high on the agenda in Gabon, with the first national exhibition event relating to the digital economy, held from 17 to 20 February 2010 in Libreville.

The Minister of Communications, Laure Olga Gondjout, pointed out at the opening ceremony that fibre optics will be extended into the nine provinces of Gabon before 2012.

She also stated that fibre optics will be installed this year “from Libreville to Mayumba, with a loop to Port-Gentil”.

This involves the Usaid/Pepam programme, which will cover 90 rural localities in the regions of Ziguinchor, Sédhiou, and Kolda, financed by an American co-operation arrangement in the amount of 20.7 million Dollars.

The aim is to upgrade and develop drinking water and water drainage infrastructures, as well as improving hygiene to meet the needs of 185,000 people over the next three years.

This is a project of major importance to Senegal, particularly since the World Bank decided on 17 February to grant a credit of 55 million Dollars to Pepam.

Mr. Fétini, Senegal World Bank representative, told the daily Le Soleil that “the water and drainage sector in Senegal is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa”.

He added that urban settlements have already achieved the Millennium Objectives for Development with regard to water.