(Ecofin Agency) - Since it was established about 50 years ago, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has injected a total of $30 billion in Africa’s transport sector.

The funds were dedicated to more than 450 projects across all the institution’s member states, resulting in the construction of more than 40,000 km-long of asphalt roads. Regarding maritime transport, AfDB invested in the construction, modernization and expansion of 16 ports whereas in the air transport sector, 30 airports benefited from the financial support of the institution which is currently headed by Nigerian Akinwumi Adesina.

Ever since it financed its first project in the transport sector (a road linking Eldoret in Kenya to the Timborora region in Uganda), the bank adopted a holistic approach aiming to support related industries in order to boost investment in the transport sector. “To achieve their full potential, transport projects must be completed through investments in other economic sectors,” AfDB said in a report assessing this first project.

Let it be noted that Morocco and Tunisia respectively got $2.7 billion and $2 billion investment, making them the first countries to benefit from AfDB’s aid in the transport sector, in Africa. In East Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia received more than a billion dollars investment combined, the institution revealed in a statement released on its website.

Aaron Akinocho