The Kwara State Government is set to launch its Infrastructure Development Fund 'InfraFund Kwara', (IF-K) with an initial investment of N4.2 Billion in the Energy Sector in the fourth quarter of 2016. Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed revealed this during an interaction with community leaders in his office on Friday, according to Muideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Communications to the Governor.

The statement quoted Mr. Ahmed as saying IF-K was codified into the Kwara State Public Private Partnership Law which he assented to in 2015. According to him the IF-Kproject is a result of the Kwara Infrastructure Investment and Finance strategy which he approved following an infrastructure assessment exercise concluded in 2014.

He said the outcomes of the exercise showed an estimated N225 billion deficit value of infrastructure across all the 16 local government areas and spanning all sectors, which required both government and private investment, in order to boost the state's productivity and wealth creation. Mr. Ahmed said the main objectives of IF-K were to provide guided, systemic and outward facing framework for continuous and consistent infrastructure development, optimally leverage private sector or resources for infrastructures development and maximize the state's resource allocation policies.

Providing further details of IF-K, the Chief Economic Assistant to Governor Ahmed, Abayomi Ogunsola said the fund would boost raise confidence in investors and encourage broader and deeper interactions with the Kwara State government from different types of private or non-private partners. He said it would also promote banking and non-banking financial intermediary participation in infrastructure funding, provide incentives and serve as catalyst to mobilizing appropriate private sector capital, efficiency and expertise for the state's infrastructure projects.

IFK, according to Mr. Ogunsola, also has an expected outcome of attaining stable development of Kwara Residents and businesses. He said the IF-K project is one of the avenues for meeting the state's current infrastructure needs and also a critical vehicle for proactively meeting future infrastructure needs.