Transport

The poor and inadequate state of much of Africa’s transport network is holding many countries back from competing effectively on the global market. Effective transport networks are a key component of the investment climate, enabling people and goods access to markets and reducing the costs of doing business. Intra-African trade stands at less than 10% of all African GDP and Africa’s share of world trade is only 2%.

The four sub-sections outline the key issues relating to the four transport modes – ports, roads, airports and railways – and their spending needs.

The AICD study found that these modes interact, often in complex ways, raising common issues:

• Poor linkages among transport modes in Africa cause long delays and raise costs in the movement of international freight.
• Logistical services are in their infancy in Africa, and their development is impeded by a wide array of administrative, regulatory, and governance barriers.
• Landlocked countries are the most affected by these issues – hence the growing movement toward regional collaboration to facilitate trade along key transport corridors.
• Improving the efficiency of transport services calls for a liberalised transportation market that extends a greater role to the private sector.

(Source AICD)

About the ICA Transport Platform

The ICA Strategic Business Plan (2010-2012) encouraged greater involvement of ICA members in sector-related activities. It proposed ‘sector ownership’, whereby an ICA member could champion assignments and provide leadership, benefitting from ICA’s 'convening power' and base within an African institution.

The ICA Transport Sector Platform was launched in 2010 and led by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Under the ICA Transport platform umbrella, JICA activities focus on facilitating One-Stop Border Posts via development of the OSBP Sourcebook and Sensitization Workshops, while the EIB promotes Port and Airport development through Public-Private Partnerships.

ICA Transport Platform Objectives

• Facilitate effective dialogue between African partners and development partners,
• Coordinate development partners to make their interventions even more effective, and
• Deepen transport infrastructure knowledge sharing among African partners and development partners via the One-Stop Border Post Source Book, workshops, Port and Airport PPP Study, and support of ICA Knowledge Center.

Commitments to the transport sector, 2006 to 2010

ICA commitments to the transport sector accounted for the largest part of commitments in 2009. One year later, energy ranks first, while commitments to the transport sector remained stable with US$6.9bn. As shown in the graph, ICA member support for Central, East and Southern African regions (including South Africa) decreased, being compensated by support for North Africa, which doubled to US$2.8bn. Commitments to West Africa remained stable.

For transport, 70% (US$4.87bn) of commitments came from multilateral donors in 2010. This share decreased from US$5.8bn in 2009, but was compensated by bilateral support (2.0bn). Multilateral and bilateral commitments to the transport sector were ODA and non-concessional loans in nearly equal parts.

The top multilateral financiers were the World Bank (US$2.13bn) and the African Development Bank (US$1.45bn), while the strongest bilateral support in this sector came from France with US$1.04bn and Japan with US$0.71bn. Levels were similar to previous years. The detailed list in Annex 6 of the 2010 ICA Annual Report provides further information on total ICA member commitments.

ICA Funding for Transport Sector by Region, 2006-2010, in billions US$