4.2 billion people live in cities and that number is growing by 1.5 million each week.
90% of the urban growth will occur in developing and emerging economies.
Rapid urbanisation is fueling cities’ infrastructure needs. Yet a US$3.2 trillion annual global investment gap, to realize this infrastructure, currently exists.
There is a limited interface between cities and investors.
Significant global private capital is potentially available to invest in the SDGs.
There is an ongoing challenge that prospective projects tend to be insufficiently prepared for investment and therefore remain unfinanced.
What is the
Cities Investment Facility?
The Cities Investment Facility, powered by Dual Key, is an innovative, multi-stakeholder initiative centered around unlocking investment in urban infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income markets that have traditionally struggled with project preparation and bankability. This is achieved by supporting project promoters with (i) the marketing of their projects to a global audience of construction finance providers; (ii) advice regarding the ideation, feasibility, development, and financial closure processes; and (iii) funding (both grant and private capital) for these processes, with the ultimate goal of securing construction financing from other external lenders and investors.
The Cities Investment Facility aims to direct a significant amount of capital towards financing infrastructure projects that are inclusive, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and masterplan integrated. We see this as crucial to boosting sustainable development and addressing the rapid urbanization of the world's poorest cities, which fuels the growing annual infrastructure financing gap.
The Dual Key System is a unique approach on how to invest with impact that systematically: (i) identifies and encourages productive and catalytic investments; (ii) strengthens investments to make them financially sustainable and investment ready; and (iii) unlocks access to domestic and international finance for SMEs and revenue generating investments, which have a transformative and measurable impact on the local economy.
The Cities Investment Facility aims to direct a significant amount of capital towards financing infrastructure projects that are inclusive, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and masterplan integrated. We see this as crucial to boosting sustainable development and addressing the rapid urbanization of the world's poorest cities, which fuels the growing annual infrastructure financing gap.
The Dual Key System is a unique approach on how to invest with impact that systematically: (i) identifies and encourages productive and catalytic investments; (ii) strengthens investments to make them financially sustainable and investment ready; and (iii) unlocks access to domestic and international finance for SMEs and revenue generating investments, which have a transformative and measurable impact on the local economy.
What are the components of the Cities Investment Facility?
A series of three instruments work to engage city authorities, investors, and other stakeholders in CIF.
The CI Portal is an online subscription-based platform that hosts and tracks the progress of the sustainable urban infrastructure projects that have been admitted into CIF, as they make their way through development towards bankable, construction-ready status. It is the first entry point into the programme, comprising a digital platform that enables cities to better promote their urban development projects to an audience of construction/long-term investors and third-party experts who can provide financing, technical and advisory support.
Learn MoreThe CI Advisory Platform is an incubated initiative responsible for supporting successful projects that pass-through assessment filters. The two elements of the CI Advisory Platform – bankability advisory and SDG assessment – provide technical assistance to selected projects, including project structuring, financial and technical due diligence, deployment of TA capital (grants, reimbursable financing, loans, guarantees), getting projects to investment readiness, identification of blended finance scenarios and investment pathways (domestic and international exposures), and SDG impact assessment using an SDG Project Assessment Tool.
Learn MoreThe CI Vehicles provide development finance and bankability guidance for projects that have reached the mid-stage of development. They are often those that have been prepared and de-risked to mid-stage with the assistance of the programme’s CI Advisory Platform partners, and now require the typically more significant investment needed to complete development. Through blended financed structures (typically private equity funds), the CI Vehicles’ mission is to provide funding and development oversight to project promoters in order to drive projects to financial close with other, third-party lenders and investors. Part of this process includes assisting project promoters in securing the appropriate equity sponsors and lending institutions.
Learn More