BUILD Africa Forum 2014: Resolutions and Actions for Infrastructure in Africa
The inaugural BUILD Africa Forum was a remarkable success
Global
experts included H.E. Denis Sassou N’Guesso, President of the Republic
of Congo, Vicente Fox, Former President of Mexico; Abdoulaye Wade,
Former President of Senegal; Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria; Dr Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim, Commissioner
for Infrastructure & Energy for the African Union; Jean-Jacques
Bouya, Minister to the President of the Republic of Congo for Spatial
Planning and Delegate General for Major Public Works; Dominique Lafont,
President of Bolloré Africa Logistics, Otavio Azevedo, President of
Andrade Gutierrez, Mario Pezzini, Director of the OECD Development
Centre, as well as Robert Gumede, founder of Guma Group, among many
others.
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Debates led to recommendations for immediate action from both public and private sector players:
1. Public Private Partnerships are key to Africa’s development.
PPPs are important to close Africa’s infrastructure gap, as well as to
generate new profits for African economies. Despite large discrepancies
between countries that have managed to put up successful PPPs in Africa
and those that have failed, PPPs have proven to work, provided they are
based on a legal framework, with a fair allocation of risks and benefits
between parties. This requires local capacity building on PPPs, long
term planning and phasing, strong political will, as well as transparent
coordination between public and private players.
2. Increasing the number of bankable projects is mandatory to boost infrastructure in Africa.
But bankability is not only about generating profits. Projects must be
understood in the financial, legal, environmental, as well as social and
economic terms, to reduce long-term risks. Feasibility studies are key
to cope with investors' aversion to risk. Governments can also help
increase the level of bankability of some projects, while it's important
to manage the country’s public debt.
3. Regional integration is not a choice, but a necessity for African economies to compete in a globalized world.
African countries must not compete but rather work to complement each
other, as economic and physical boundaries do not necessarily match.
This can apply to all sectors from transport, to trade and
telecommunications.
4. African economies need to establish their own development strategy.
Development plans must create sustainable value locally, both in terms
of taxation revenues and job creation. Empirical evidence shows that
joint ventures with local players are far more profitable in the long
run than mere foreign direct investments, with repatriation of profits.
5. Human capital is the most critical infrastructure.
Solving the infrastructure deficit is only a short-term solution.
Ultimately, infrastructure must serve development and stakeholders must
work to further develop human capital in the long run through education,
training and capacity building.
BUILD AFRICA, MORE THAN A FORUM FOR DISCUSSION, A PLATFORM FOR BUSINESS
During the BUILD Africa forum several agreements were signed to boost infrastructure in Africa:
1. The creation of an $100 million investment fund, committed to developing businesses in the value chain across the agro-business sector.
2. The creation of a dedicated PPP capacity facility,
within the General Delegation for Major Public Works in Congo. This
agreement, signed with Edifice Capital Group, aims to strengthen the
capacity of local managers to structure and launch PPP projects in
social and economic infrastructure as well as in agro-business projects.
3. An agreement to develop the hydro-energy potential of the Sounda site,
in the district of Kouilou, where the Republic of Congo intends to
implement a Public Private Partnership (PPP). The IFC was selected to
advise to the Government of the Congo. A competitive tender is planned
to select partners for this project with 1000 MW potential.
4. A MoU on fiber optic interconnection between Congo and Gabon:
Thierry Moungalla, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of the
Republic of Congo and Ngoua Deme Pastor, Minister of Digital Economy,
Communication and Post of Gabon represented by the Ambassador of the
Republic of Gabon to Congo-Brazzaville, have signed an MoU on
interconnection between the optic fiber networks CAB3 (Congo) and CAB4
(Gabon). Implemented through the World Bank’s Central African Backbone
program for optic fiber interconnection in Central Africa, the agreement
will increase the geographical coverage of the network, bandwidth
capacity, and reduce the costs of communication in Central Africa.
Report distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of BUILD Africa Forum.
