Logistics industry welcomes Comesa plans

Renewed commitment by the recently appointed chairman of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), President Joseph Kabila Kabange, has sparked optimism among logistics companies. The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) took over the leadership of Comesa earlier this year and has emphasised the need for infrastructure investment. The lack of adequate infrastructure in transport, energy and communication and information technology (ICT) remains one of the most significant limitations to economic growth and development in the Comesa region. The cost of addressing Africa’s infrastructure needs is around $93billion a year, according to the World Bank, while in most African countries, particularly the lower-income countries, infrastructure remains the major constraint to doing business. As intra-regional trade continues to be hampered and import and export costs are driven up, it is often logistics companies that bear the brunt of the inadequate infrastructure. It is for this reason, says Michelle du Toit, operations director of Beyond Africa Logistics Consultants, that a renewed commitment to infrastructure investment must be welcomed by the logistics fraternity as it bodes well for operations in the region. “We look forward to the implementation of the infrastructure plans for this area,” she said. “As much of our business is conducted by road, we wholeheartedly endorse the need to improve the main trade routes from a maintenance and security point of view.” Kabange has placed infrastructure development centre stage on the Comesa regional integration agenda saying it is the key to unlocking the potential for economic take-off. The focus, he said, would be especially on roads, railways, electricity, information and communication infrastructure, ports and waterways transport. In its most recent move the organisation transferred the Comesa Infrastructure Fund (CIF) to the Eastern and Southern Africa Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank). A spokesman for Comesa said the decision to enlist the PTA bank in raising infrastructural development funds was informed by the impressive performance it had registered in the recent past.