Addis Ababa, 29 January 2015 (ECA) - At the opening of the High-level Round Table on infrastructure and development, held in the context of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Carlos Lopes made a call for rapid development of regional infrastructure “to facilitate the movement of goods people, services, ideas and innovations.”
While lauding the progress made over the last two years, Mr. Lopes said that challenges remain in attracting significant private sector involvement, which currently only stands at $ 8billion per year.
The private sector’s reluctance, he said, “is partly due to fears about the expropriation of assets, the enforceability of contracts and other regulatory risks that arise as a result of incongruous frameworks across countries and subregions.”
He added that to meet the annual infrastructure gap of $48billion per year, countries need to put in place appropriate policy, legal and regulatory frameworks.
Mr. Lopes told the high-level forum that ECA, in partnership with the African Union and the NEPAD Agency, will be working on a common regional framework to facilitate private sector financing of infrastructure projects in Africa. The project will entail mapping of policies, laws and regulations that affect private sector interests and a process of harmonization to address longstanding issues. These include project preparation and development, divergent laws, local content, among others.
He made the call against the backdrop of a geographically fragmented continent that reduces the possibility of creating growth by exploiting the economies of scale. Furthermore, 40% per cent of its population lives in landlocked countries and most are isolated and operate inefficient markets.
“Regional integration holds the key to addressing these inefficiencies and boosting intra-African trade,” he stressed.
The high-level Round Table on Structural Economic Transformation and Regional Integration in Africa took place in the margins of the African Union Summit. The NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee has, the development of Africa’s infrastructure, as a key area of focus and is credited with championing the implementation of regional priority infrastructure projects.
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