CLIMATE-RESILIENT TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
PROGRAM RATIONALE
The Agenda 2063 was adopted by African Union Heads of State and Government in January 2015 as the blueprint for the continent’s socioeconomic transformation within 50 years. In the document, the prominence given to the infrastructure sector reveals that physical integration is an important dimension of Africa’s regional integration, industrialization and economic transformation agenda. African leaders committed in Agenda 2063 to speed up action to connect the continent through world-class infrastructure, including interconnectivity between island states and the mainland.
They also committed to mobilize financial resources to implement major infrastructure projects in transport, energy, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This is in line with the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) which is the strategic framework for developing regional infrastructure on the continent, and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI). It is also in line with the Dakar Agenda for Action which was the main outcome of the Dakar Financing Summit held in June 2015 at which 16 transboundary infrastructure projects were endorsed by Heads of State for fast-tracked implementation.
The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), endorsed in 2012 by African Heads of State and Government, lays out an ambitious long-term plan for closing Africa’s infrastructure gap, including through major increases in hydroelectric power generation and water storage capacity. The infrastructure pro-jects identified by PIDA require investments on the order of US$ 360 billion by 2040, with approximately US$ 70 billion needed by 2020.
The World Bank’s 2010 Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic Re-port1estimates that the cost of meeting Africa’s infrastructure deficit is around US$ 93 billion per year (of which about US$ 30 billion is required for maintenance), with an optimistic investment gap of US$ 31 billion per year. Climate-proofing these substantial investments is essential, as Africa stands to be impacted the most from the adverse effects of climate change, even though the continent contributes less than 4 per cent of glob-al greenhouse gas emissions.
The rationale for a regionally integrated approach to transport infrastructure development is to facilitate the creation of large competitive markets in place of small, fragmented and isolated markets and to lower costs across production sectors. PIDA will reduce transport costs, boost intra-African trade and accelerate regional integration[1].
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The aim of the course is to strengthen the capacity of the relevant officials of African countries to design, implement, monitor and evaluate the efficacy of appropriate climate-resilient infrastructure and transport policies to facilitate structural transformation of the economies of the continent. The specific objectives of the course are:
- To develop the knowledge ofparticipants in transportinfrastructure policy issues and challenges facing Africa;
- To develop the practical skills of participants in policy design, planning, implementation and monitoring of transport infrastructure programmes and projects, particularly especially in the context of lockdown, exit;
- To develop knowledge of alternative institutional and financing arrangements and to provide participants with skills that are needed to engage fully as policy officials in projects (including PPP projects) from the planning, design, implementation and monitoring.