Let us integrate, connect and transform Africa through effective infrastructural management - NEPAD

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(l-r) NEPAD Agency CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), Mr Maged Abdelaziz

New York, 17 October 2012—“Regional integration is a key component of Africa’s development strategy if we are to build a strong African Economic Community that will be competitive in the global economy by 2028.” These comments were made by Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency, at a briefing to the African Group of Ambassadors ahead of the United Nations General Assembly Africa Debate at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Dr Mayaki stated that eleven of the world’s fastest growing economies are in Africa, hence the need to promote regional integration that will enable economies of scale, and in turn attract private sector investment.  

The session, which was held as part of the UN’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, was attended by senior heads of key international development agencies, including Maged Abdelaziz, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA);  Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and  Michel Tommo Monthe, Chair of the African Group of Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to the UN.

Mr Abdelaziz commended NEPAD on its efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa despites critical challenges in implementing sustained infrastructure, challenges, which were yet to be tackled.  

Dr Mayaki said that infrastructure still remains a major constraint to modernising African countries and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs). If African governments were to invest adequately in it, the Continent would experience unprecedented socio-economic growth.  To that end, some pre requisites are needed such as an enabling environment with sound financing instruments in a context which good governance is prevailing coupled to an efficient domestic resources mobilisation.

In January 2012, African Heads of State endorsed the implementation of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, to channel resources for tackling the infrastructural deficit on the Continent. PIDA is a joint initiative of the AU, the NEPAD and the African Development Bank (AfDB), aimed at tackling the infrastructural gap. Its main goal is to accelerate the delivery of regional and continental projects in Transport, Energy, Trans-boundary waters, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

The Programme assumes that the average economic growth rate for African countries will be 6 percent a year between 2010 and 2040, increasing the demand for power and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as well as transport and water. PIDA hopes to develop a web of 37,200 kilometres of highways, 30,200 km of railways and 16,500 km of interconnected power lines by 2040. It also plans to add 54,150 megawatts of hydroelectric power and an extra 1.3 billion tons of capacity in various African ports. The impact on Africa would be huge, helping to unleash its potentials in areas such as trade and transport, agriculture and ICT as well as water and sanitation.

Mr Kandeh Yumkella of UNIDO said “To ensure that sustained infrastructure will be implemented through PIDA, Africa needs structural changes  by implementing real projects that will  change the face of the Continent.”

‘In total, bolstering infrastructure through the implementation of PIDA will “help integrate regions, realise socio-economic potential and fast-track development on the Continent,” said Dr Mayaki.