Africa requires $93b to close infrastructure gap, says report

For Africa to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure provision, it would need to spend a whooping $93 billion yearly, a new  survey has said.

And with the present infrastructural in Nigeria, the report has also predicted a passive future for Nigeria’s infrastructure, which it described to be far behind some major African countries.

Nigeria, according to Ernst & Young’s second African Attractiveness Survey, titled, Building Bridges, has received the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa with about $116 billion since 2003 but remains weak in terms of infrastructure development.

Much of the FDI, according to the report has been in the area of oil and gas, which has done little to affect majority of Nigerians.

Presenting statistics to the media at the official launch of the report in Nigeria, Ernest & Young’s Regional Managing Partner  for West Africa, Mr. Henry Egbiki in his summary of the report noted that in terms of top African investment destinations for projects, Nigeria ranked 9th behind Zambia, Ghana, Botswana, Mozambique, Morocco, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Quoting a study conducted by the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), Egbiki stated that in terms of funding requirements, the AICD estimates that an annual investment of $93 billion would be required for the decade from 2010-20 to close the infrastructure gap with other developing regions. About two-thirds of this sum would be for construction and rehabilitation and one-third for maintenance. This covers a range of infrastructure needs, including power generation, transmission lines, road and rail networks, water and sanitation and broadband access and much else. This number represents just fewer than 15 per cent of the region’s GDP and more than twice the amount that was originally estimated by the Commission for Africa in 2005.”

“When comparing low-income sub-Saharan African countries to other low-income countries, the gap is all too evident. This is particularly so in the density of paved roads, coverage of telephone landlines and power-generation capacity.” Said Egbiki.

According to Ernst & Young’s second African Survey, “In other to increase the levels and efficiency of private investment in infrastructure, more African governments also need to prioritise the implementation of Public- Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks and teams that support mutually beneficial long-term relationships. More broadly, it is critical that relationships between business and government in Africa become more engaging and productive.