The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed a partnership deal that will ensure projects undertaken are climate-friendly and sustainable, Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Fund, Solomon Asamoah, has said.
GIIF is currently implementing internationally-recognised environmental management systems which integrate environmental and social requirements into its investment decisions and business processes.
In an interview with the B&FT, following a workshop on the adoption of green building practices, Mr. Asamoah said: “We want to make sure that all of our projects are climate-friendly, sustainable and do not damage the environment.”
“It would be very terrible if GIIF was to finance a project in local communities and it didn’t work out well for them. So, we try to structure with the latest climate-friendly policies,” he added.
GIIF is collaborating with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on accelerating the adoption of green building practices through the promotion of voluntary green building certification programmes based on the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) software, standard and certifications system.
This partnership will ensure that all GIIF projects are EDGE-certified.
“We are very happy partnering IFC to improve the quality of our investments in the area of climate-friendliness,” the CEO remarked.
Over the last 4 to 5 years, GIIF has committed about US$290million of its US$325million funds. This covers 12 projects under the GIIF portfolio, which include the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Terminal 3, major expansion at the Takoradi Port, as well as power and tourism projects in the mining sector.
“We are trying to make sure that Ghana’s infrastructure improves, and ensure that Ghanaian entrepreneurs and sponsors benefit from the investments that we do.”
Strategic Plan
Highlighting the plight of tertiary students following the huge number of students completing the Free Senior High School system, Mr. Asamoah noted that at the moment there is a silent crisis going on in terms of university accommodation.
“Following the success of Free SHS, these students are finding it difficult to find accommodation in the various universities across the country. We are looking closely to make a major intervention in university student accommodation. That’s an area we are focusing on quite significantly,” he said.
“Also, there is a real shortage of affordable housing. We are seeing what we can do for private sector-led solutions,” he further added.
