Regional blocs seek integrated infrastructure development

Africa’s economic blocs on Thursday said infrastructure development can be boosted through leveraging and blending of pooled regional resources with those from international cooperating partners.Regional Organisations from Eastern and Southern Africa meeting in Nairobi under the auspices of the Inter Regional Coordinating Committee (IRCC) also called for the efforts by the recipient countries to improve their capacity to utilize the development funds.”We want to harmonize our financial procedures to have easily coordinated systems for the utilization of aid for trade in all sectors,” Executive Secretary of Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD) Mahboub Maalim told the regional consultative meeting which kicked off in Nairobi.He said civil servants heading ministries of finances in respective member countries will be responsible for coming up with harmonized financial procedures.The EU has previously raised concerns that financial procedures in some of the recipient countries are not good enough to facilitate proper utilization of aid leading to delays in releasing the money. Harmonized financial procedures and joint regional projects is expected to overcome this challenge, by ensuring that all the aid money is released. The best practices on financial procedures will also be replicated. Delegates from member countries are expected to come up with the financial procedures they have recommended on Friday when the conference ends.The implementation of the harmonised financial procedures will be overseen by the Inter Regional Coordinating Committee (IRCC), the joint secretariat formed by member countries to oversee implementation of joint projects. The formation of a joint body to coordinate the utilization of aid money for regional projects is also expected to attract more donors to this region because of improved utilization of the aid money. Joint regional infrastructure projects are seen as one of the best option to increase regional integration.The East African Community Secretary General, Dr. Richard Sezibera said joint regional projects are the answer to the future of the region. “We are here for innovative thinking to develop a cooperative approach, hinging on regional and national resources to address our common challenges, such as regional infrastructure,” he said. He called for quick implementations of the recommendations that will be agreed to enable the region make progress in utilization of the aid money.Sezibera, who is also the current