Windhoek: Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have called for greater regional coordination in infrastructure development to ensure that Africa's green industrialisation ambitions translate into value addition, jobs, and sustainable economic growth. Speaking at the African Green Industries Summit, Kenya's Director for Global Wind Energy Council Africa, Juliana Kainga, emphasized the importance of addressing who finances and controls the 'first mile' of infrastructure necessary to unlock major industrial projects.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Kainga highlighted that infrastructure such as transmission lines, pipelines, roads, railways, ports, and water systems should not be designed solely around the requirements of a single investor, as this could restrict access for future projects. She pointed to Kenya's Lake Turkana wind project, where a 310-megawatt wind farm was completed but faced delays in transmitting electricity due to incomplete transmission infrastructure, illustrating the risks of leaving infrastructure responsibilities unresolved between government and investors.
The infrastructure expert advised Namibia to ensure that common-user infrastructure is designed with future users and industries in mind, while establishing clear arrangements on ownership, access, capacity, pricing, and dispute resolution. Meanwhile, Head of Economic and Commercial Sector of the Embassy of DRC in Namibia, Jimmy Namushonze, stressed that logistics and infrastructure must become instruments for industrial transformation rather than merely channels for exporting raw materials.
Namushonze noted that the DRC holds significant reserves of copper and cobalt, minerals critical to the global energy transition, but aims to move beyond extraction towards processing, manufacturing, and value creation on the continent. He emphasized the need for transformation from mine to industry, including transport, corridors, a port, markets, and finally, the industry.
Namushonze also highlighted Namibia's strategic Atlantic location and port infrastructure as a means to strengthen connections between central Africa's mineral-producing regions and international markets. The DRC called for the development of corridors such as the Lobito Corridor and southern African routes as complementary networks capable of supporting regional trade, investment, and industrialisation.