The United Kingdom is partnering with five African countries to mobilise private sector investment in quality, environmentally-friendly infrastructure projects, International Development Secretary Alok Sharma announced on Monday.

Speaking at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London ahead of an infrastructure investment forum Tuesday, Mr Sharma said the UK will partner with Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda to design a new facility to plan, deliver and support finance to a range of infrastructure projects across Africa that are attractive to businesses and investors.

Sustainability will be central to these new infrastructure projects, focusing on investments with low carbon emissions and projects that will be resilient to a changing climate.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said: “Investing in quality infrastructure enables children to travel to school and parents to go to work to provide for their families. It lets people keep food in fridges and provides light so children can do their homework at night. It also powers factories, phones and computers to connect people and grow businesses. It is the difference between surviving and thriving.

“Using world-leading British expertise in infrastructure and investment, including from the City of London, the UK will support our partners across Africa to build their projects in an environmentally-friendly way and bring them successfully to market.”

Alongside this, Mr Sharma pledged extra UK aid to help African governments raise finance to deliver much needed high-quality public sector infrastructure projects, such as building schools and hospitals and boosting access to clean energy and water supplies for the poorest people.

He also announced a new infrastructure partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to boost quality infrastructure projects throughout Africa and drive economic growth.

The announcements come alongside recommendations from the International Development Infrastructure Commission, established by Mr Sharma, which will report back today, identifying a lack of attractive infrastructure investment opportunities as one of the barriers to investment in these African countries.