SECTOR-BY-SECTOR OPPORTUNITIES 115
A bold new approach is enabling faster action on reducing the continent’s infrastructure gap, writes Samallie Kiyingi
A
frica’s infrastructure deficit is well documented. It is also common knowledge that infrastructure development, particularly in the areas of energy, transport, communication and water, is of critical importance to sustainable economic
development and growth. However, solving the infrastructure equation has so far eluded the African continent. While efforts to address the infrastructure gap in the past have been commendable, they have been marked by the absence of continent-wide coordination and a unified strategic outlook. A direct response to this problem has been the creation of
the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), which outlines an ambitious strategy to accelerate the continent’s infrastructure development. PIDA is a joint initiative between the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa. Launched in July 2010, the program has the goal of
promoting socio-economic development and poverty reduction across the African continent through the creation of, and the improvement of access to, integrated regional and continental infrastructure networks and services. By providing a single African platform for the implementation of an infrastructure strategy, PIDA serves to consolidate various infrastructure initiatives, including the AU Infrastructure Master Plans, the NEPAD Short-Term Action Plan, the NEPAD Medium- to Long-Term Strategic Framework and various regional initiatives. The platform will, in turn, enable the continent as a whole to leverage the experience and expertise of all stakeholders, in order to accelerate the process of infrastructure development.
A common vision PIDA will, for the first time, create a coherent programme for African infrastructure and provide a common vision on infrastructure development for the entire continent. It will cover four key sectors: energy – including electricity, renewable energy, petroleum products and gas; transport – including air, water, rail and roads; information and communication technology (ICT); and trans-boundary water management – which will focus on irrigation, hydropower, and lake and river transport. The AU is a key stakeholder in PIDA. The AU
Commission, which has a general mandate to provide
leadership on matters relating to Africa’s economic and social development, will play a crucial leadership and coordination function. Important features of this function will be the facilitation of consultation and dialogue, and the development of continental sector policies based on the regional policies and master plans developed by RECs. The AfDB will be the executing agency for the initiative, and will manage all contractual, financial and administrative issues relating to PIDA. NEPAD as a program sponsor will, together with the
AU and the AfDB, contribute to prioritizing and harmonizing the various projects that PIDA will undertake. Other key stakeholders in PIDA include African heads of state, RECs and Africa’s development partners. PIDA will be implemented in two major phases: the study
phase, which will include diagnosis of the need, planning and prioritization of projects and consensus-building across all stakeholders; and the implementation phase, in which the results of the study will be implemented. In seeking to further the goals of the program, PIDA will
seek to: establish a strategic framework for the development of regional and continental infrastructure; establish an infrastructure investment program based on the priorities agreed to by its stakeholders; and prepare an implementation strategy, together with monitoring and evaluation processes. In addition to its stated objectives, there are several other
issues that PIDA hopes to address. Firstly, it wants to consolidate information on Africa’s
infrastructure deficit, to assist the program in identifying and prioritizing infrastructure needs. Secondly, it hopes to study and identify the causes of the
delay in developing regional and continental infrastructure. In addition to identifying such causes – which to a large degree are known – PIDA will endeavor to undertake a causal analysis, based on a rigorous methodology, to determine the causal links between the measures taken in the past to address the infrastructure deficit and the impacts and outcomes obtained. It is hoped that this causal analysis will assist PIDA in devising realistic priorities and designing more effective implementation strategies and processes. Lastly, PIDA wants to address poor implementation,
by analyzing past projects and determining incentive mechanisms and processes to increase the likelihood of more efficient implementation. The planning timeframe under consideration is for the
period up to 2030, and is phased as follows: 2010-15 for the short-term and priority action plan; 2016-20 for the medium term; and 2021-30 for the long term.
INVEST IN AFRICA 2011
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