Companies active in Africa share their views on infrastructure challenges and opportunities

FTW: Infrastructure remains a
major concern in Africa – are we
seeing improvements?
Lerato Mophethe, manager
foreign operations and quality
assurance of South African
Airways Cargo: The lack of
improvement in infrastructure
remains a major concern. Not
much investment has been made to
improve the ageing infrastructure.
Adrian Friend, managing
director of Celtic Freight: In
terms of infrastructure at the
Zambian borders and routes,
specifically the North-South
corridor via Botswana, there is
improvement. The roads that link
Zambia with the South are in a
good condition now, and there
is a new pontoon at Kazungula
crossing the Zambezi. It was
commissioned by the Botswana
authorities and has taken a huge
amount of pressure off the Zambia
units and the border is now
working smoothly.
Costa Vlassis, general manager
NileDutch South Africa: We are
definitely seeing improvement
in Africa which is encouraging
interest and further investment. In
fact, this is one of the key points
for growth and sustainability of
the continent as a whole. However,
what we are seeing in South Africa
is frequent turnover of senior
port management positions and
important positions still unfilled.
FTW: How does infrastructure
development impact on your
business?
Mophethe: The main challenges
are the lack of facilities to support
cargo operations – and that
includes lack of ground handling
equipment and X-ray screening
equipment for security, the
regulatory compliance issues etc.
The lack of operational support
equipment has forced reliance on
manual interventions to support
cargo operations.
Friend: Road infrastructure
within the cities in Zambia is in
a poor state of repair, but there is
work being done. However, it does
slow down business and affects
delivery. There are rumours within
Lusaka that the desperately needed
ring road around Lusaka is on the
cards and can be expected shortly.
This would greatly alleviate the
congestion in this city, allowing
the transit traffic to the Copperbelt
and Congo to by-pass the city,
facilitating movement to and from
the various business and industrial
areas.
Vlassis: We as NileDutch are
looking to contribute as far as
we possibly can to infrastructure
upgrades. There are challenges
that we constantly face however,
and in an emerging market
one must understand that these
are normal. Sadly we are also
experiencing piracy problems on
the east coast, which is having
a negative impact on those
economies.
FTW: Where are the serious
infrastructure shortfalls on the
continent?
Mophethe: Infrastructure
in most of Africa’s airports is
outdated or non-existent. The main
shortfall is the lack of investment
to upgrade the existing and
outdated warehousing facilities
and equipment. The governments
own most of the ground handling
services, including the airports,
and in most cases they are the only
allowed service providers in the
area.
Friend: Road infrastructure
remains a major concern with
major congestion in cities.
Vlassis: One must remember that
Africa has started off from a low
base and despite that there has been
tremendous growth over the past
couple of years. We are seeing this
in various sectors including rail,
ports and storage. A serious concern
though is the lack of training
programmes for all these sectors.
FTW: In your opinion are we
addressing these shortfalls fast
enough and what do you think the
long term impact will be?
Mophethe: Shortfalls are
currently not addressed in a
coherent way. Partnerships with
the service providers in ground
handling matters would assist
us in dealing with the existing
challenges.
Friend: As data capacities
improve steadily this is also making
the clearing process with Customs
more and more efficient. Certainly
the Zambian clearing process
itself, which doesn’t provide any
form of requirement for a clearing
agent to clear cargo more quickly
or efficiently, is now the delay
in clearing cargo into Zambia.
Customs of course is still the ‘goto’
party for any blame relating to
delays in clearing. However some
agents are taking advantage of the
better 3G and satellite internet links
and starting to provide a better
service to their clients.
Vlassis: There is always room
for growth. Though this is being
addressed, South Africa is still
lagging behind due to insufficient
or proper management in our
port and rail sectors. Many other
African countries, including but not
limited to Angola, Mozambique
and Namibia, are expanding and
have employed experienced and
professional entities to assist
them with their upgrades and new
projects. This is starting to prove
highly effective. South Africa needs
to take heed of this or we will be
left picking up the pieces in the
coming years.