Kenya will be one among 21 members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. This country will receive a feasibility study that will help to create an Africa Cloud Ecosystem.
Dubbed the (ACE) project, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and COMESA have signed a Letter of Agreement for a Sh65.1 million grant to support the feasibility study that will take 12 months and will be piloted as a continental program focusing on COMESA Member States.
In a press release by COMESA Secretariat, Thursday, the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility grant, will support the First Phase Market Analysis (Pre-investment study), which will assess the market for the ACE project and examine the bankability of the project, including testing of the concept in the COMESA region.
The project is intended to support the creation of a State of the Art facility to provide ICT infrastructure services to COMESA member states and the African continent.
Chileshe Kapwepwe is the COMESA Secretary General (SG). He stated that once the African Cloud Ecosystem Project is complete, it will reduce costs and improve competitiveness on a global stage. This will happen through regional connectivity and deeper integration on the continent.
In a speech read on her behalf by the COMESA Assistant Secretary for programmes, Ambassador Kipyego Cheluget, the SG noted that launching of the market analysis for the cloud Ecosystem is a manifestation of the existence of the cordial relationship between the two institutions and assured of COMESA’s full support and commitment to further strengthen the cordial Partnership.
“The project aims to provide an affordable, secure, reliable, fast cloud hosting system for Africa,” She stated, adding that most African countries are still constrained for lack of critical ICT infrastructure, including low broadband penetration of about 10 per cent and small leveraged power capacity along with high cost of hosting services.
“Most African data storages are hosted outside the continent and the ACE project will lay the foundation in the provision of a premium facility mainly powered with efficient and clean energy that is an affordable, secured, reliable, fast cloud hosting system for Africa.
Raubil Olaniyi durowoju, the Country Manager, Africa Development Bank Zambia Country Office and Special Representative to COMESA said that although Africa is the second largest continent, internet penetration in Africa was lower than in Europe and North America.
“The Africa Cloud Ecosystem project, will be a first of its kind, laying the foundation to facilitate the African continent to undertake this shift in the key sectors of economy, education, government, agriculture and health through the provision of a reliable ecosystem of data centres,” Dr. Durowoju said.
He described the project in Africa as a pioneering use of big data and a platform for governments to request information from all sectors, including public transportation management and retail.
The ACE project will facilitate regional integration by taking full benefit of technology and establishing the foundations of a duty-free, quota free area that goes beyond data-only aspects.
Its development is also expected to increase the sustainability and viability of information and provide a pivotal way of transitioning Africa’s community into a digital economic community.
Apart from significantly lowering hosting costs, which are a major reason African businesses host their services abroad, the project will also remove obstacles faced by African companies by encouraging intra-regional trade, and increase innovation.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, also known as COMESA, was established in 1994.
It brings together 21 African member states with a combined population of 586 millions people into a cooperative framework to promote sustainable economic growth and prosperity through regional Integration.
COMESA’s main focus is on the formation of a large economic and trading unit, that is capable of overcoming some of the barriers that are faced by individual states.
By Wangari Ndirangu
Source: kenyanews
