Yaounde / N'Djamena, February 27, 2020 (CEA) - The Chadian Government and the Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are co-organizing a workshop to review and finalize the Industrialization and Economic Diversification Master Plan (PDIDE, in French) for the Republic of Chad, from March 2 to 6 2020 in N'Djamena
PDIDE, which covers the decade 2020-2030, seeks to move the country's economic growth rate from around -2% (in 2017) to more than 8% per year until 2030.
The final result of studies started in 2018, PDIDE is the fruit of the joint work of the Sub-regional Office for Central Africa of the ECA, led by Mr. Antonio Pedro, and the Government of Chad, represented by Mr. Issa Doubragne, Minister of the Economy and Development Planning.
Presidential perimeter and key sectors
To achieve the objectives set, PDIDE identifies six (06) enabling factors, twelve (12) pillars, four and (04) foundations that the Chadian Government, the private sector, development partners, academia, civil society, professional bodies and the media, among other groups, would implement.
The six (06) enabling factors, which are in fact development accelerators in Chad, are the following sub-sectors: 1) energy and water; 2) agribusiness; 3) mining, extraction and metals; 4) construction, building and public works; 5) banks and financing; and, 6) the digital.
The key sector-based routes for the industrialization and diversification of Chad, called twelve (12) pillars of PDIDE, are as follows: i) meat, leather, milk, ii) spirulina, sesame and shea, iii) cotton, Arabic gum iv) refining and petrochemicals, v) gold mining, vi) quarrying, vii) metallurgical industry, viii) fiber optic network, ix) data center, intelligence x) cement production, xi) marble processing; and xii) brick production.
For this ambitious plan to succeed, it will have to sit on g four (04) foundations, namely: governance, human capital, infrastructure and financing.
Required investments and gains
To do this, the Chadian Government, a key player in the implementation of the said Plan, would have to inject an investment of around FCFA 595.6 billion (or US$ 985.2 million) for the related projects between 2020 and 2022.
According to the computations of the teams from ECA and Chad, these investments would generate total revenue on average of 1,124.075 billion FCFA (about US$1.86 billion) during the same period. The expected gains are around FCFA 528 billion (US$ 873.6 million), representing an approximately 89% return on investment in three years.
ECA experts believe that the operationalization of this Plan would trigger the emergence of small, medium and large industrial enterprises in Chad, thanks to a massive investment in the growth and employment sectors; the share of manufacturing in GDP is projected to grow from 8% currently to 16% by 2030, while the share of manufacturing in total exports would increase from 2% to 6% in 2030.
Challenges to overcome
According to ECA, with regard to this Plan, the Chadian Government and other stakeholders face six major challenges: an infrastructure deficit and weak support services to industry; a business environment which is unfavorable to an industrial boom with, in particular, a tax and customs system which does not take into account the landlocked nature of the country; a mismatch between the supply of labor and the needs of the industrial sector, particularly with regard to the qualification of the workforce; poorly adapted financial services; a low supply capacity of existing industrial production; and weak capacity for industrial plants to cater for the environment (for example, difficulties related to handling sewage, other waste, and pollution management).
Consequently, Chad must still make efforts to meet the challenges and constraints to the development of its industrial sector by focusing on 4 wheels which are: (i) political will, coordination and decentralization, ii) regional cooperation, (iii) diplomacy, and (v) public-private partnership.
These points echo those of Minister Issa Doubragne, who mentioned on September 17, 2018 in N'Djamena, during the official launch of the work of the PDIDE, that "Chad has no more time to waste" and it is necessary for the country, in partnership with all stakeholders, to “accelerate a proper formulation and implementation of this Master Plan so that Chad can emerge - in the next four or five years - amongst the most resilient and diversified Central African nations.”
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