Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO of Cassava Technologies.

Cassava Technologies-owned Africa Data Centres (ADC) will soon start the construction of a new data centre in Ghana.

ADC announced the construction of the new facility yesterday, which it says has been designed for an initial 10 MW. It is being designed to expand to 30MW, depending on demand.

The first phase is scheduled to be completed within 12 months, the company said.

The new facility will be built in Accra, within the scheme of the Ghana Trade Fair Redevelopment Project at La, which ADC said is one of the key central locations in the city.

In a statement, ADC said this new facility is part of the company’s continental expansion plans, covering 10 of Africa’s major economic hubs, including South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Angola.

This expansion, ADC said, is partly funded by the United States U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and is a significant initiative to accelerate private sector-led digital infrastructure and services in Africa.

Hardy Pemhiwa, Cassava Technologies Group CEO, 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."

According to ADC, data centres are the foundation of digitally led economic growth around the world; developing ‘sustainable and self-sufficient ICT ecosystems’ is impossible without them.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is also a Cassava Technologies operating company, which owns and operates over 70,000 fibre optic route kilometres across 13 Central, Eastern, and Southern African regions.

Welcoming the new investment, Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, said: “The establishment of Africa Data Centre’s new 10MW data centre, in the heart of Accra, is a significant step towards bridging the infrastructure gap, and developing further our digital economy.

“This investment and the government’s drive at digitising all sectors of the economy will enable us to increase our capacity to access digital services and help even more to attract foreign direct investment into our economy.”

Scott Nathan, CEO, DFC said: “This new facility in Accra will be an investment in critical infrastructure helping to better link the rapidly growing African population and market to global opportunities.

“DFC’s commitment to strengthen ICT Infrastructure in West Africa is in keeping with the commitments (US) President Biden made to mobilise 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.”

For Tesh Durvasula, ADC CEO, the new data centre in Ghana is a significant step towards his company’s goal of narrowing the digital divide in the West Africa region.

He said: “Hyperscale 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.”

Representing the US Government, senior advisor, Amos Hochstein, said the investment exemplifies his government’s commitment ‘under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment to unlock public and private capital for sustainable infrastructure investment’.

He said: “Alongside the data centres in South Africa and Kenya, the Ghana data centre is laying the groundwork for a digital revolution on the continent.”