Sound and Effective Infrastructure – The Right Way for Africa’s Development

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VHS Bonn Lecture – African Aspects

Sound and Effective Infrastructure – The Right Way for Africa’s Development

Sound and Effective Infrastructure - The Right Way for Africa's Development, VHS Bonn solo

A closer look at the upcoming generation change in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa that could help getting a grip on political corruption and direct resources improving the transportation infrastructure to leave its colonial past behind, improve the economic situation and ameliorate citizens’ standard of living.

 

Speaker

 

Defining Sound and Effective Infrastructure

  • Sound: set-up in accordance with targeted use, capacity and long-term sustainability in mind, especially with required costs and know-how of maintenance in mind
  • Effective: having a direct positive impact on the economic development and/or citizens’ standard of living

Continental Problems of Eastern  sub-Saharan Africa

Factors detrimentally affecting Eastern Africa on a continental level:

  • Burden of Colonial Past (incl. car-centric urbanism/ development of the infrastructure under short-term financial interests)
  • Conflicts and Safety issues
  • questionable state of Democracy and Constitutionality
  • Corruption
  • Demographic Change
  • Climate Change
  • increased Migration, especially of the qualified workforce, and influx of Refugees, in particular Climate Refugees

Infrastructural Problems

  • Road Traffic: insufficient and ineffective (think of roads made out of gravel and compacted earth with potholes that don’t allow going faster than 60 km/h) expansion, even though constituting the most intense used and available mode
  • Railway: remainders of the colonial past that was used to move troops are neglected and rundown, among others due to its historic symbolic
  • Air Traffic: high utilization rate for travel within Africa and strong economical factor, but for freight and transport only practical for long distances

Case Study Zimbabwe

A possible solution approach to Zimbabwe’s challenges:

  • Rectify any Consequences of the negligence or lack of maintenance of energy and water supply and/or transport infrastructure
  • Institutional Capacity Building, focusing on management and regulations to safeguard accessibility of basic public services
  • Further Development of know-how and formal training to reestablish technical standards
  • Generate Commercial Appeal of the public infrastructure for private investors

Ways of Funding

In order to realize the proposed changes to decrease the negative impact of and ameliorate Zimbabwe’s current situation possibilities for funding are:

  • Private Public Partnerships (PPP)
  • Taking up Grants and Currency to finance infrastructure projects
  • Financial Aid in the context of International Development Cooperations
  • Austerity programs in non-infrastructure related sectors
  • Privatization of public and state owned services and property

Eastern Africa’s Current Situation

Concluding, two theories regarding Eastern Africa’s current situation can be established:

  1. Development aid in exchange of currency (f.i. with the People’s Republic of China) is the only way for states with low financial resources to develop sound & effective infrastructure.
  2. Classical development cooperation as handled for decades by countries of the Global North has failed to develop Africa’s infrastructure.

Africa’s New Generation – Bearer of Hope

A generation change is coming up and will inevitably arrive at Eastern Africa’s public and political officials too. The new generation has a vastly different self-image and national identity, characterized by a changed understanding of justice and a common vision of a prosperous and just Africa. From a sociopolitical perspective, this entails a cultural change in Africa’s private, public and political conduct, how challenges are managed and problems are solved. Pertaining to different key areas for change, this means for:

  • Politics – from tolerating officials corrupt behavior due to their contribution and merits in the African liberation struggle, f.i. freeing Zimbabwe from British colonialism, imperialism and the white minority rule, to the uprising of and determined actions by the public, striving for establishing political rule of law – as an example see the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d’état
  • Public Infrastructure – from neglecting its maintenance, especially of the railroad system, due to the remembrance and symbolism of the colonial past, oppression and imperialism, to a function-oriented extension that symbolizes accessibility, freedom and liberalization from social inequity.

This will increase safety and reduce uncertainty and loss-of-profits of investments into Eastern Africa’s future infrastructural development. Commercially motivated private investors investment interest will increase, while allowing the countries to make better “deals” for themselves than hitherto, due to an improved bargaining position.

 

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