By Innocent Obasi
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), said it will provide a $1 million technical assistance grant to the Green Mobility Facility for Africa (GMFA) to create an enabling environment for Electric Vehicles (EVs), the design of EV business models and guidelines for the public and private sector in Nigeria and six other African countries.
The AfDB made this disclosure in a statement released on its website, noting that the fund will further extends the GMFA’s role in providing technical assistance and investment capital to accelerate and expand investments in sustainable transport solutions across seven countries,including Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.
The SEFA,it said, will also provide support for 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.
Commenting on the development, Nnenna Nwabufo, the director-general of the Bank’s East Africa regional development and business delivery office explained that 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 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating the creation of 19,000 full-time jobs,” Nwabufo said.
On his part, Clare Akamanzi, the chief executive officer of the Rwanda development board stressed that 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 remarked.
