‘All talk and no action scuppers project growth'

Africa must speed up its decision-making processes if it wants to benefit long term from the increased project interest on the continent. While oil was discovered in Uganda back in 2004, a Memorandum of Understanding to build a refinery was only signed in April this year. “It has taken 10 years to make a decision of this nature in Uganda. The same happens in many other countries – including Tanzania – where protocols and procedures along with legislation are still not in place to allow for the oil and gas sector to boom,” said Dirk Matthysen, general manager for Spedag Interfreight Tanzania. Experts at the Breakbulk Africa conference held in Cape Town recently however all agreed that there were too many hold-ups in the decision-making process in Africa resulting in nothing happening at ground level. The same can be said of West Africa. Bas de Vaal, managing director of Portside International, said this was evident at the Ports of Tema and Takoradi in Ghana where oil exploration was on the increase. “The port of Takoradi for example only has a draught of 6 metres. Big vessels cannot enter this port and so there has been talk about developing the entire port which would make a major difference to the oil and gas industry.” But, said De Vaal, several years later and it remains talk. CAPTION Bas de Vaal … little progress in expansion at Takoradi.