Transport, energy and water will attract the most infrastructure investment in Africa over the next few years. According to Lehlohonolo Mokenela, industry analyst, digital transformation practice at Frost & Sullivan, most of the infrastructure investment activity in the medium term is expected to come from the transport sector in particular, with road and port infrastructure projects in East and West Africa expected to lead the trend. “The growing affordability of renewable energy technologies will also drive investment in the energy sector as small-scale projects that large commercial banks have been unwilling to consider are increasingly being seen as bankable,” he told FTW. “Recent droughts have also highlighted the paucity of water in Africa and the susceptibility of the health of its economy to natural water sources. To support the growth of agriculture in Africa, water infrastructure has become a greater priority. This includes integrating technology to enable end-user and water providers to optimise water use.” He said energy, along with water supply and sanitation, were the priority sectors, collectively accounting for just under 70% of the total targeted investment. “Despite having a power capacity of around 170 gigawatts, more than half of the continent’s population still does not have access to electricity. A number of East and West African countries have the potential to become net energy exporters but are struggling to meet their own internal needs. Part of the problem lies with under-investment in the transmission and distribution infrastructure,” he said. According to Mokenela, Ethiopia is one of the few to have bucked the trend, having based a lot of its recent growth on infrastructure investment, particularly in energy. Not only is the East African country poised to have the largest hydropower plant on the continent, it is looking to export some of this to its regional neighbours. South Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya are already importing some of their power from Ethiopia following extensive investment in large, mostly renewable energy projects, as well as transmission and distribution infrastructure. In West Africa in countries such as Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Mali, it was the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that were expected to drive a lot of the growing investment in power generation, said Mokenela. “As with telecommunications, Africa’s energy sector is expected to leapfrog traditional infrastructure with the uptake of off-grid and distributed power solutions in rural and remote communities.” According to Mokenela Ethiopia is one of the few countries on the continent with a structured infrastructure investment programme that is meeting its set targets. “As part of its Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), the East African country has built over 80 000 kilometres of road, launched sub-Saharan Africa’s first metro system, completed a standard gauge railway (SGR) connecting the capital, Addis Ababa, with Port Djibouti, and invested $1.6 billion to expand and modernise its telecoms infrastructure. The government also recently announced plans for $7 billion worth of investment into road and power infrastructure.”
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South Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya are already importing some of their power from Ethiopia. – Lehlohonolo Mokenela
