Commodities boom must kick-start regional infrastructure development

Africa needs to find ways of
leveraging the commodities boom
on the continent to see more
infrastructure development than
just that from port to mine, said
Deputy Minister of Transport
Jeremy Cronin.
Cronin said the commodities
boom was fuelling African growth
but it was important to find
ways of leveraging the boom to
ensure sustainable infrastructural
development across the continent.
“There is no point in raising
funds to only build infrastructure
from a mine to a port. We
need to think further afield and
explore how we can create links
between countries and propel
infrastructural changes or face the
very real possibility of locking
ourselves into yet another century
of under-development.”
Cronin said the first step was
increasing inter-regional trade.
“A recent meeting between
SADC, Comesa and the East
African Community agreed on
this very objective – that all the
role-players would be working
very seriously on a free trade
agreement from the Cape to Cairo
that will involve vastly intertwined
inter-regional trade and product
chains. A central pillar to this is
a north-south corridor for both
rail and road, and then east west
corridors as well to connect to the
various ports.”
He said the biggest challenge in
realising this was not tariff barriers
as many believed but rather nontariff
barriers.
“A recent study found that
trucks between Malawi and South
Africa travelled at an average
speed of 50-60km per hour, but
once the delays at the border
posts were worked in, the average
travelling distance was only 12km
an hour,” said Cronin. “There is
no point in having a great road or
railway if the delay at the border
post is so significant.”
He said southern Africa had
no choice but to champion rail
as it moved into the future.
“Congestion, road fatalities and
road maintenance are all taking
their toll on the road networks.
The only way to address it is to
move freight back to rail.”
But, said Cronin, one cannot
think rail in isolation. “We need
a developmental perspective, a
regional multi-modal approach.
We have to address our poor
infrastructure that is disconnected
from other networks and also not
maintained.”