The Africa Construction Intelligence Report
Sunday, 1 March 2026 | Vol. 1, No. 4
Kenya launches a $3 billion SGR extension. Ethiopia links ports to rail. Ghana turns the entire country into a construction site. Africa builds at scale.
Africa is entering what may prove to be the most consequential week for continental infrastructure in a generation. As delegates gather in Cape Town for Infrastructure Africa 2026 on Monday, Kenya has announced that construction on the $3 billion Naivasha-Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway extension begins this month -- 264 kilometres of new track, 79 bridges, and eight tunnels that will connect the port of Mombasa to Uganda's border and, ultimately, to Central Africa. Simultaneously, Ethiopia is racing to link its strategic ports to the Ethio-Djibouti Railway by year-end, while Ghana's President Mahama has declared the entire country "a construction site" under a GH₵50 billion Big Push infrastructure programme.
The connecting thread is a strategic pivot from announcement to execution. The Infrastructure Africa 2026 summit's agenda is deliberately built around bankability and financing readiness -- not policy ambition. Egypt's Obelisk solar-plus-storage project has reached commercial operations ahead of schedule at 1.1 GW. Tanzania has commissioned its first large-scale solar plant. These are not future plans; they are steel in the ground and electrons on the grid.
For construction executives, the message is unambiguous: the execution era has arrived, and the firms that can deliver complex projects across multiple jurisdictions will define the next decade of African infrastructure.
The 264km Naivasha-Kisumu line begins construction this month with 79 bridges, 8 tunnels, and 26 stations -- the most significant East African rail project in a decade
Kenya Railways has confirmed that construction on the Standard Gauge Railway extension from Naivasha to Kisumu will commence in March 2026. The 264-kilometre line, scheduled for completion by June 2027, represents the most ambitious phase of Kenya's SGR programme since the Mombasa-Nairobi section was completed in 2017. The project had stalled for years after China, which financed the initial stretch, declined to back the extension.
Once completed, the line will enable continuous rail transport between Mombasa and Kampala without transshipment -- connecting the Indian Ocean port to Uganda, and eventually to the DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda.
The engineering scope is formidable: the first phase alone includes 79 railway bridges spanning a combined 43 kilometres, eight tunnels totalling 14.26 kilometres, and 376 culverts covering approximately 7 kilometres. The project provides for 26 stations, including one main station, six intermediate stations, and 18 crossing stations, along with a freight port facility and an 8.68-kilometre link to the planned port of Kisumu on Lake Victoria.
The strategic calculus extends well beyond Kenya. Uganda is the largest transit market for the port of Mombasa, and the rail connection is expected to ease cargo movement across the entire East African Community, reducing pressure on congested roads and slashing logistics costs. Additional extensions are planned to link the network to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda -- creating a trans-regional rail network from the Indian Ocean deep into the African interior.
For construction firms and engineering consultancies, the Kisumu extension represents one of the largest procurement opportunities in East Africa this decade, with significant demand for bridge engineering, tunnel boring, earthworks, and rolling stock supply.
Cape Town summit this week puts bankability and execution -- not announcements -- at the centre of the continent's infrastructure debate
Infrastructure Africa 2026 convenes at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 2-3 March alongside the Africa Energy Indaba, with a deliberately practical agenda built around what turns a proposal into a funded asset. The African Development Bank estimates Africa requires between $130 billion and $170 billion annually in infrastructure investment, with a financing gap of up to $108 billion each year.
Infrastructure Africa is not about theory. It is about enabling the conversations and connections that lead to real projects being financed and implemented.
-- Liz Hart, Managing Director, Infrastructure Africa
The summit's programme targets the steps between concept and construction. Sessions focus on PPP frameworks, blended finance structures, and how to move projects from early-stage planning into investment-ready status. Pension funds and sovereign wealth funds are increasingly positioned as suitable infrastructure investors, but they require stable regulatory environments and predictable revenue models. The event is structured to connect ministers, municipalities, project developers, and development finance institutions around a shared challenge: Africa has a large project pipeline, but bankable projects remain comparatively scarce.
This comes weeks after the formal launch of the Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF) on 14 February, designed to deploy parts of Africa's domestic capital pools -- exceeding $2.5 trillion -- into vital cross-border infrastructure projects aligned with the AfCFTA. For construction executives, the convergence of these initiatives signals that the era of project-by-project financing is giving way to platform-scale capital deployment.
President Mahama declared "the whole of Ghana is under construction" during the 2026 State of the Nation Address on 27 February. The Big Push programme has commenced 50 major road projects covering 1,144 kilometres, with an additional 23 inherited projects spanning 573 kilometres. A centrepiece is the 198.7-kilometre, six-lane Accra-Kumasi Expressway -- Ghana's first purpose-built limited-access motorway, featuring eight interchanges and cutting travel time to 2.5 hours. The government cleared GH₵10 billion in road contractor arrears by year-end 2025, and 73 projects are progressing across all 16 regions. This is the largest road investment in Ghana's history.
Scatec has reached commercial operations on Phase 1 of the 1.1 GW Obelisk solar-plus-storage project -- Africa's largest. The first phase comprises 561 MW of solar PV and 100 MW / 200 MWh of battery storage, built at "record pace" since signing the PPA in September 2024. Phase 2 adds another 564 MW, expected online by summer 2026. Norfund acquired a 25% stake in the holding company and EDF took 20% in the operating company, demonstrating deep international investor confidence. The project supplies Egypt Aluminium, the country's largest industrial electricity consumer, under a 25-year PPA.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam -- Africa's largest hydroelectric project -- has transformed Ethiopia from a power-constrained economy into a regional electricity hub. National installed capacity now reaches 9.6 GW. Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Iteffa says the GERD has doubled national power generation and strengthened cross-border connectivity across the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Djibouti have agreed to connect strategic ports to the Ethio-Djibouti Railway by November 2026, including a new 17km spur to the Damerjog port at an estimated $90 million. EDR is pursuing a 49% stake in the Damerjog fuel storage project.
Tanzania has completed its first large-scale solar power project in Kishapu District, Shinyanga region. TANESCO Managing Director Lazaro Twange confirmed the facility has already started generating electricity and is expected to connect the full 50 MW to the national grid by 1 March. The plant is the biggest solar initiative undertaken in the country since independence and marks a critical step in Tanzania's energy transition.
The project's strategic value extends beyond generation capacity. Acting Manager Mariana Mrosso explained that the additional power will improve electricity supply stability in the Lake Zone regions, which have long suffered from power shortages. Kishapu District Commissioner Peter Masindi noted that reliable electricity will benefit young people working in mining and agriculture, improve productivity, and encourage small business formation.
Meanwhile, South Africa's 330 MW Impofu wind power complex is targeting full commissioning this year, comprising three distinct farms with 57 turbines developed by Enel Green Power South Africa. Kenya is channelling World Bank funding through a new Green Investment Fund for energy-efficient buildings and electric mobility. Across the continent, renewable investment surged to $20 billion in 2025, up 15% from 2024, with the sector projected to create 10 million jobs by 2030 according to IRENA.
Ethiopia and Djibouti have agreed to connect key strategic ports to the Ethio-Djibouti Railway line by the end of 2026, following the Joint Railway Commission meeting on 17 February. The commission, co-chaired by Ethiopia's Minister of Transport and Logistics and Djibouti's Minister of Infrastructure, endorsed rail connectivity to the Doraleh Multipurpose Port and the HDTL oil terminal, with completion targeted by November 2026.
The stakes are high. Currently, the Doraleh Multipurpose Port relies on a 1.9-kilometre trucking link to connect with the railway -- costing approximately $10 million annually. A direct rail connection would eliminate this bottleneck. The new 17-kilometre spur to the Damerjog Liquid Bulk Port, which will have 25 million tonnes annual capacity, is estimated at $90 million. Ethiopia is also rehabilitating sections of existing railway and has signalled interest in a future 40-kilometre dual-track line connecting Bole International Airport to Bishoftu.
Separately, Cape Town International Airport has set a ZAR 9 billion ($570 million) investment package covering a new domestic terminal, international expansion, and a new runway estimated at ZAR 6.1 billion, with construction expected to start in March 2026. Kenya Airports Authority has opened tenders for a nationwide modernisation programme covering Jomo Kenyatta, Moi, and Kisumu international airports.
Tanzania is emerging as a green building leader in East Africa. Between 2024 and 2026, the country saw over 75,000 square metres of building space achieve EDGE certification -- the IFC-backed standard for resource-efficient construction. The CRDB Bank Headquarters in Dar es Salaam, the first EDGE-certified building in Tanzania, has achieved 21% energy savings and 27% water savings, demonstrating that sustainable construction delivers measurable financial returns in African markets.
Africa as a whole surpassed 10 million square metres of EDGE-certified space in April 2025, with Kenya exceeding one million square metres alone. Kushinga Kambarami, IFC's Africa Lead for Green and Resilient Built Environments, notes that certification provides the "global credibility" investors need for climate-aligned capital deployment. Tanzania has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10-20% by 2030, and experts argue the building sector offers the most cost-effective pathway.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has signed an MOU with South Korea's Asia Economic Development Committee to establish Africa's first Electric Vehicle manufacturing plant. The phased project will begin with EV assembly and expand to full local manufacturing with an estimated capacity of 300,000 vehicles and 10,000 jobs. Cameroon's first modular office building -- 78 units manufactured in China -- arrives in Yaoundé this month. For construction executives, the convergence of green certification, industrial decarbonisation, and modular construction signals a structural shift in how African projects will be financed and evaluated.
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