In the era of modernization and radical transformation, the issue of developing infrastructure is increasingly becoming a pivotal element and a mandatory version of metamorphosis to bring about real change and sustainable progress. Of the myriads of majestic capacity unit of infrastructure, road and railway comes at the forefront.
True, road and railway development has required firm determination, immense capital and a lot of time to be made a reality. In clear terms, such an immense investment has demanded a lot of work on the ground. Hence, there is likelihood of impacting the environment.
The African continent has these days been working towards infrastructure development so as to speed up its economic and regional integration as well as to prettily respond to the socioeconomic development queries of the people everyplace enclosed under the circumference of the continent.
Considering the extent of the railway and road network that the continent still needs, there is a need to enhance collaborative works with partners. Especially China has been active stakeholder in the development of transportation infrastructure in the continent.
Ecosystem degradation and climate change are also hot issues in this regard. Therefore, it is important to give due attention to safeguarding the ecosystem while developing infrastructure.
One important venture is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It eyes at connecting China with important trade and investment destinations across the world including Africa. China is already actively working on infrastructure development in Africa.
So the two sides should work towards ensuring the safe development of infrastructure.
Africa has a vast infrastructure deficit, especially in the sub-Saharan region. When it comes to water and electricity specifically, there are significant disparities across the region. According to McKinsey, South Africa, Cameroon, Botswana, Nigeria, and Namibia have electrification rates that surpass 50% of the population. Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola, and Zambia’s electrification rates range between 35-49%. Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Mauritania’s electrification rates range from 20-34%. Niger, Chad, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s electrification rates are lower than 20%. While North Africa has almost reached universal access to electricity and water services, in sub-Saharan Africa, only about 45% of the population has access to electricity and around 60% of the population has access to water service. This means some 600 million people do not have access to electricity. The lack of electricity is more prominent in the rural areas, where electricity coverage is only around 28 percent, compared to coverage of 65 percent in urban areas (African Development Bank).
The United Nations also asserts that, despite the gains registered in improving regional infrastructure connectivity across the continent since the establishment of the African Union along with NEPAD, Africa still faces serious infrastructure shortcomings across all sectors, both in terms of access and quality.
For instance, only 38% of the African population has access to electricity, the penetration rate for internet is less than 10% while only a quarter of Africa’s road network is paved. Studies have shown that poor road, rail and port facilities add 30% to 40% to the costs of goods traded among African countries, thus adversely affecting the private sector development and the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI).
Unequivocally, stimulating economic growth and development of road infrastructure in economically behind parts of the nation is quite decisive. This is because road infrastructure plays a crucial role by providing mobility for the efficient movements of people and goods, as well as providing accessibility to a wide variety of commercial and social activities. However, focusing on road infrastructure development alone would not be sufficient to achieve a sustainable economic growth. Hence, the contribution of road infrastructure development and other socio-economic factors need to be well acknowledged. To shed light on this issue, road infrastructure development should be implemented hand-in hand with other progress policies, in order to realize a justifiable economic growth, of course via developing eco-friendly approach.
Here, discussion forums on infrastructure development have to bring together the academic and policy-making community to exchange knowledge and insights regarding the roles that infrastructure can play in catalyzing development and fostering sustainable growth.
Infrastructure affects growth through several supply and demand-side channels. Investments in energy, telecommunications, and transport networks directly impact growth, as all types of infrastructure represent an essential input in any production of goods and services. In addition, infrastructure can also reduce the cost of delivered goods, facilitate the physical mobility of people and products, remove productivity constraints, and increase competitiveness.
While infrastructure can lead to beneficial economic outcomes, the concrete development impact of infrastructure depends significantly on how infrastructure investment strategies are defined and implemented. Undeniably, spatially coordinated development of different types of infrastructure can help amplify returns, and infrastructure investment must be accompanied by policy reforms aimed at mitigating tradeoff between social and environmental sustainability.
The construction of large dams can give rise to social conflicts in affected communities, particularly if these are poorly designed and consultation with affected populations is not adequately pursued. Yes, growth is positively affected by the stock of infrastructure assets, and income inequality declines with higher infrastructure quantity and quality.
It has long been widely witnessed that investments in infrastructures such as energy, water, transportation and communication technologies promote economic growth and help alleviate poverty and improve living conditions in developing countries like ours.
The relationship between infrastructure and economic growth is quite complex. Although infrastructure development is important and necessary for industrial take-off and economic growth, the desire for growth does not necessarily mean higher or increased need for infrastructure and more infrastructures do not necessarily guarantee more economic growth. Infrastructure services exhibits high network effects.
As the proper state of development and change in Ethiopia is mainly affected by lack of resources to undertake groundwork development, lack of infrastructure development framework that adequately delineate stage-by-stage project requirements in many places of the country, inadequate planning, and mismatch of projects with society demands, are lagging the all-rounded progress behind, they should be addressed and all required inputs and ingredients have to be fulfilled.
An adequate supply of infrastructure is a prerequisite factor for economic growth. Intuitively, one would think that various infrastructure developments interact with the economic growth in complex processes as intermediary goods. The improvement in both quality and quantity of infrastructure affects the productivity of overall industries.
In sum, as promoting adequate investments in the building and maintenance of infrastructures is a socially desirable goal, it needs to be given due emphasis since infrastructures are often associated with increased productivity, improved mobility of the factors of production, and ultimately economic growth and sustainable change. Infrastructure development is expected to be well intensified as infrastructure has been ultimately been the prime driver of growth of the entire nation.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 25 OCTOBER 2023
