The need for improving infrastructure throughout Africa to boost intra-African trade and bolster development was highlighted at the infrastructure investment world conference in Sandton on Monday.

Africa Project Access MD Paul Runge said that the cost of moving goods within Africa was "prohibitively high", and supply chain management and freight logistics was a particular problem area.

"We are simply not getting goods to where they need to be on time," said Runge.

He did, however, highlight that there were some successes that have been achieved with regard to infrastructure, such as ports, roads, bridges and railways, and emphasised that the infrastructure project pipeline for Africa was larger than ever previously recorded.

This was largely owing to recovering demand for natural resources and commodity price increases following the global economic crisis. And, importantly, to reach the commodities, a number of infrastructure backlogs needed to be rectified.

"We have the resources and commodities that the world wants. But we still have to convince some people that Africa is a viable continent," he stated.

In terms of South African companies, Runge stressed that the situation within Africa has globalised, and South African companies should be more strategic when it came to operating elsewhere in the continent.

He noted a number of important projects in Africa, which were being developed by companies from outside Africa. Examples of these included the Mmamabula project in Botswana, being developed by Canada-based CIC Energy, numerous copper projects in Central Africa, which were largely being developed by Australian and Canadian junior mining companies, and the coalfields in the Tete province of Mozambique, which were being developed by Brazil-based Vale and ASX-listed Riversdale Mining.

Runge also emphasised the need for greater collaboration between all stakeholders, to ensure that projects were successfully implemented. Project developers, engineers, governments and financiers all needed to work together to ensure viable projects delivered results.

CHINA IN AFRICA

Meanwhile, China is playing a substantial role in African infrastructure projects, and while there has been much criticism of the Asian giant's participation in Africa, Frontier Advisory senior manager and head of research Hannah Erdinger stated that there have been many positive spill-overs as well.

China's increased interest in Africa has meant increased financing, the creation of backbone infrastructure, lower transport costs, lower transactions costs, a boost in regional trade integration, and the development of new trade corridors.

China Africa relations have gained momentum over the last ten years, and despite being off a low base, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa has shown a more than 7 000% increase.

Erdinger pointed out that this still only accounted for 10% of China's overall FDI spend, and most of the country's FDI spend went elsewhere into Asia.

It was highlighted that Africa was dependent on what happened in China, as Africa often met China's resource demands. This meant that the growth trajectories of the two were intertwined.