The infrastructure deficit in Africa currently amounts, in monetary terms, to $1,5-trillion, African Development Bank vice-president and Chief Economist Prof Mthuli Ncube told Engineering News Online on Tuesday. And the continent probably can't afford to finance all the required development from its own resources.

"A lot of money needs to come from abroad in foreign direct investment," he highlighted.

"There's a need to develop roads through quasi-market initiatives such as public-private partnerships. Railway development is very important for Africa. In the 1960s and 70s one could travel from the Cape a lot of the way to Cairo by train, but political conflicts did a lot of damage to railways."

Rail is the cheapest way to move freight from the interior to the coast, but many ports also need development or refurbishment, particularly in West Africa.

"We also need to develop the airline industry. We need to be able to travel across Africa by air, both passengers and cargo," he added. "It is very difficult to fly between African countries. For example, to fly from South Africa to Tunisia, you have to go via Paris or Dubai."

Nor is this all. There is also the need to develop the entire power generation sector. Oil infrastructure has to be expanded, and gas infrastructure developed. There is a need for more dams, for water supply and hydropower.

For example, he cited the Inga project in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "If it was developed it would be a wonderful project. It would benefit the whole region. The DRC couldn't possibly use all that electricity."

Then there is the issue of affordable housing. "One way for people to move into the middle class is to become home owners," he pointed out.

There are, of course, areas in Africa with concentrations of high-quality infrastructure, such as Southern Africa, in particular South Africa, and North Africa, especially Egypt and Tunisia. "But all regions of Africa need more infrastructure," he affirmed.