Speakers at the second African Development Bank Transport Forum identified a range of issues that needed to be addressed if the continent is to live up to the conference theme – “Africa on the Move – Accelerating Sustainable Transport and Logistics Connectivity”.There was consensus among the panellists that the sector suffers from deficits of funding, human capital and digital technologies.Frédéric Wiltmann, team leader at the Multilateral Cooperation Centre for Development Finance (MCDF), said in a panel discussion “connectivity through infrastructure must drive growth and contribute to poverty reduction; but that means infrastructure must be affordable, resilient and sustainable”.The question of costs was taken up by Abdoulaye Alliagui, deputy chief of staff at the Côte d’Ivoire ministry of transport, who advocated pooling ideas to speed up sustainable connectivity and logistics. “Transport accounts for seven to 10% GDP in Côte d’Ivoire. We therefore need to enable people to access sustainable and competitive transport ser v ices.”Lubinda Sakanga, technical and operations director of the Southern African Railways Association, called for a move away from a “colonial vision of rail transport based on extracting and transporting raw materials to African ports. “First and foremost, railways should connect African countries and regions. “But above all, we need to create a railway ecosystem, because we have companies but not a rail sector. We need a rail sector master plan.”Another rail advocate was Burundi’s minister of infrastructure, Dieudonné Dukundane, who stated “railways are the only way to change the current situation, especially against the background of the AfCFTA”. Other speakers recommended opting for a multimodal approach to take advantage of the opportunities offered by road, rail, and navigable waterways.A call for greater air connectivity was made by Abdérahmane Berthé, secretary general of the African Airlines Association, who pointed out that, although Africa was larger than Europe, its connectivity index was significantly lower. The aviation sector is hindered by constraints such as taxation, accessibility problems, a low level of cooperation between airlines and the level of infrastructure.“Air connectivity is vital for trade and development, business and tourism,” he said.Some progress is being made, according to Solomon Quaynor, vice president of the African Development Bank Group for the private sector, infrastructure and industrialisation.The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa is facilitating cross-border infrastructure projects and programmes which “affect the key sectors of energy, transport, cross-border waterways, and information and communications t echnolog ies”. ER
