Africa Data Centres announces plans to start work on new facility in Accra

Africa Data Centres has announced that it is set to begin work on a new facility based on its recently acquired land in the Central Business District of Accra, Ghana, on a part of the former Trade Fair showgrounds site. The data center will begin with an initial 10 MW, expandable to 30MW, depending on demand.

Set to be the largest facility in West Africa to date, outside of Nigeria, it is part of the company's wider expansion plans across South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Angola.

The first phase of the development is set to be completed within 12 months, with the project, funded in part by the United States government’s U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Speaking about this development, Hardy Pemhiwa, Group CEO for Liquid Intelligent Technologies, said: "We continue to bring internationally recognised services and products through Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Africa Data Centres. Liquid already has the largest cross-border fibre network in Africa, and our data centres footprint expansion compliments this, enabling faster digital transformation on the continent."

Scott Nathan, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), said that DFC is "proud" to support African Data Centres and called the new facility in Accra an investment in critical infrastructure helping to "better link" the rapidly growing African population and market to global opportunities.

Nathan continued: "DFC's commitment to strengthen ICT Infrastructure in West Africa is in keeping with the commitments President Biden made to mobilize private capital for the kind of high quality global infrastructure investments that improve peoples' lives. This new data centre will help accomplish that in Ghana and for the region, creating jobs by improving existing business conditions while at the same time attracting data-dependent companies looking to invest and expand their operations."

The US Government's Senior Advisor, Amos Hochstein, said the investment exemplifies the U.S. Government's commitment under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) to "unlock public and private capital for sustainable infrastructure investment. "

Adding: "Alongside the data centres in South Africa and Kenya, the Ghana data centre is laying the groundwork for a digital revolution on the continent."

Meanwhile, Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres, said that the new Ghana data center is a "significant step" towards Africa Data Centres' goal of "narrowing the digital divide" in the West Africa region.

"Hyper-scale data centres, preferred by major US tech companies, multinational corporations, banks and other local enterprises, are the speciality of Africa Data Centres. Additionally, our data centres are supported with independent solar and battery storage power, enabling us to bring digital technologies whilst mitigating our environmental impact," said Durvasula.