A new network of infrastructure practitioners in the public and public sectors was launched on Tuesday to address Africa's large and growing infrastructure gap, which is estimated at US$31 billion a year.
The meeting was held between public and private sector practitioners under the theme of 'Facilitating Acceleration of Infrastructure Development'.
“It is only through dialogue and interaction that new ideas can be forged for making sustainable improvement in Africa's infrastructure,” said João Caholo, the deputy executive secretary for regional integration at the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The new network includes more than 100 practitioners, financiers, technical specialists and sector experts. This was the first meeting of the network.
Admassu Tadesse, the head of the international division of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), said that, given the infrastructure backlogs and the limitations of the public sector, there could be no denying that public-private partnerships (PPPs) remained a significant part of the solution to Africa's infrastructure development problem.
“The pertinent question is how to make PPPs happen in a manner that creates a win-win for both the public interest and private partners involved,” he added.
The DBSA said the network would make full use of the power of the internet to become a repository of cutting-edge information on infrastructure solutions and resources for building capacity.
Partners involved include the African Capacity Building Foundation, Development Bank of Southern Africa, German Agency for International Co-operation, SADC Development Finance Resource Centre, the National Treasury of SA and the World Bank Institute. - I-Net Bridge