Mali has raised a US$22.5m African Development Fund loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help finance a digital complex aiming to create a fibre optic connection between the country and its neighbours.
The project, based in the capital city…
Mali has raised a US$22.5m African Development Fund loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help finance a digital complex aiming to create a fibre optic connection between the country and its neighbours.
The project, based in the capital city of Bamako, will cost US$37m in total with the government contributing US$3m and the French development agency adding another US$11.5m.
Part of the project is to set up a training centre, a data centre, space for business incubators and technology firms, and room for events for experts and academics from Africa and globally.
The target is to link Mali via fibre optics to six out of its seven neighbours before December.
The AfDB said that the main objectives of the project are to increase the use of ICT and upgrade the skills of the population and strengthen public-private partnerships (PPPs) to support research and innovation in ICT.
“Mali is pioneering a new approach breaking the walls between education systems and businesses. We hope to be doing more of such operations that combine PPPs, linking universities and training facilities to business incubators and using new technologies to improve learning outcomes” said AfDB’s Human Development Director, Agnès Soucat.
