Despite the challenges facing Africa’s infrastructure sector, International Finance Corporation (IFC) country manager for Southern Africa manager Saleem Karimjee said there was good reason for increased optimism about the potential to begin arresting the continent’s prevailing infrastructure gap.

“Well-structured public-private partnerships (PPPs) in physical and social infrastructure can help African governments raise the capital required to meet needs,” he noted, adding that Japan, with whom many partnerships had been formed in the sub-Saharan region in recent years, proved to be a promising partner.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) South Africa chief representative Toshiyuki Nakamura said: “Japanese companies have advanced technology that can be applied locally. We can, therefore, add value to PPPs, with our expertise in technology.”

In South Africa, he said a partnership between Jica and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) could increase the probability of success of PPP projects.

Krimjee said that, while investor reticence had eased as a constraint to African PPPs, policy deficiencies and poor institutional arrangements had emeerged as the new main impediments.

“Our challenge is to help governments develop the confidence, comfort and conviction that PPPs are the right way to solve the infrastructure gap and social services gap,” Krimjee urged.

Referring to World Bank Statistics, Lesotho Ministry of Finance principal secretary Mosito Khethisa said that 75% of Africans currently had no electricity, 95% of African farmers lacked proper irrigation systems and the majority of rural communities had no access to road networks.

“These major constraints reflect the curial need to prioritise the construction of basic public infrastructure. Without this, developing countries, particularly those in Arica, cannot realistically expect to achieve sustainable growth and development,” he indicated

However, delivery was being impeded by inefficiencies, mismanagement and corruption in the continent’s construction sector.

The World Bank estimated that about $17-billion was being wasted in Africa each year, owing to inefficiencies. “Anecdotal evidence from Transparency International puts losses due to the above issues at 10% to 30% of a single project’s value,” Khethisa said.

“If a ‘Marshal Plan’ for infrastructure in Africa were to be adopted, the region would need to do things differently,” he added, highlighting in particular the need to remove the policy impediments.

Prevailing large gaps in access to basic infrastructure services, especially in low-income countries and rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa, partly reflected inadequate levels of investment. Low-income countries were estimated to currently spend about 3% to 3.5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on maintenance of and investment in their infrastructure. However, estimations were that between 6.5% to 7.5% of GDP was required, which translated to about $100-billion a year.

Southern Africa Development Community PPP Network head Kogan Pillay said the region would need $500-billion between 2014 and 2027 for infrastructure development in the water, health, transport, information and communications technology, as well as power sectors. But, governments would not be able to handle this load alone, with the private sector having to contribute about $100-billion.

To advance PPPs in Africa, Pillay said it would not suffice to only implement enabling policy frameworks and institutional arrangements, but that these frameworks would also have to enjoy decent political commitment.