'African ports must shift focus'

African ports must shift focus from maintenance to capacity creation ahead of demand. That was the message from Lauriette Modipane, general manager: commercial and marketing with Transnet National Ports Authority, at last week’s three-day port conference in Cape Town . “The World Bank estimates that $93 billion will have to be invested over the next few years to overcome the infrastructure deficit on this continent,” said founder and former CEO of the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI), Brenda Horne- Ferreira. “The time for action has arrived.” Last week South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan said with sub Sahara’s share in exports almost doubling since 2010 and trade with the Brics countries rapidly growing (South-South trade has increased from $25 billion in 2005 to $79 billion in 2010) the calls for infrastructure development were set to increase in years to come. “We have to therefore think long-term rather than just focusing on the here and now.”