AFRICAN INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORT CONSTRUCTION SET FOR RAPID GROWTH

According to GlobalData, investment in transport
(road, bridge, and railway) construction in Africa is set for rapid growth from
US$47.1 billion to US$69 billion in 2020 (in normal terms). This is based on
projects being tracked by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report
(‘African Transport Networks’) reveals that growth in transport construction in
Africa is being driven by increasing investment in railway projects. Spending
will be led by Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt, where transport investment will
increase from US$7.6 billion, US$9.5 billion, and US$5.6 billion respectively
in 2019, to US$9.8 billion, US$8.5 billion, and US$7.5 billion in 2020.

GlobalData is currently tracking
448 large-scale transport projects across Africa worth US$430.3 billion in both
the public and private sectors at all stages from announcement to execution.

When completed to their entirety,
the tracked projects will total over 110 000 km in length (54 110 km for roads,
55 345 km for railway, and 599 km for bridges) of which 75 297 km will be newly
constructed, 29 197 km will be upgraded, and 5561 km will have an element of
both construction and upgrade, crisscrossing the African continent.

Investment rates in transport
infrastructure have been increasing, thanks to major continental initiatives,
such as the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa – a strategic
continental initiative for mobilising resources across African countries to
transform Africa through modern infrastructure.

In East Africa, the Northern and
Central transport corridors serve nine countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda,
Burundi, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, and
Djibouti. Around 34% of the Northern Corridor’s network of roads can be
considered to be in good condition.

The Northern Corridor needs
US$1.87 billion in financing to make it fully functional, while the Central
Corridor needs an investment of US$1.67 billion to revamp the infrastructure
and make it fully functional. In Western Africa, the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is
an essential link in the Dakar-Lagos Corridor, which is part of the
trans-African highway of the Economic Community of West African States region,
whose development is one of the 16 priority continental infrastructure projects
identified on the continent’s scale.

“Africa’s lack of infrastructure
is a serious obstacle to growth and development, resulting in a low level of
intra-African trade and trade with other regions,” said Yasmine Ghozzi,
Economist at GlobalData. “The continent accounts for 12% of the world
population, but generates a mere 1% of global GDP and only 2% of world trade.

“Over the longer term, Africa has
huge potential for growth. There is a clear appetite in the region to improve
and expand trade, and a realisation that to do so requires industrial
integration and infrastructure development.

“The March 2018 agreement to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area has potential to be a turning moment in the continent’s ambition to boost intra-African trade and spur economic development. With this emphasis on regional integration, the focus is on the development of regional economic corridors, particularly important for landlocked countries, interlinking highways, railways, and ports in the region, and hence providing connectivity between rural, national, and international networks,” Ghozzi concluded.https://www.worldcement.com/africa-middle-east/05072019/african-investment-in-transport-construction-set-for-rapid-growth/