Publish Date : 14-Aug-2017
In its 50 years of existence, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has financed more than 450 transport projects, changing the daily lives of nearly 450 million people across Africa. Roads, ports, airports, railways, these projects are compiled on a map published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the first project financed by the Bank in 1967, roads in Kenya. The document, which can be consulted here, makes it possible to visualize the location of these different projects and the financial volumes committed in each country. In total, the Bank has lent and donated more than US $ 30 billion to improve transport systems in Africa.
While almost all AfDB member countries have received funding, the map details the states that have most requested the institution. The first recipients of transport-related financing over the past 50 years, Morocco and Tunisia received US $ 2.7 billion and US $ 2 billion, respectively. At the sub-regional level, the map shows the importance of East Africa. Financing for projects in the transport sector exceeds $ 1 billion in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. West Africa followed, with Cte d'Ivoire as the locomotive, which recently benefited from urban megaprojects.
The document also differentiates the different types of transport supported. Road projects are the most numerous. Some contribute to the isolation of remote areas, allowing the opening of a virtuous economic circle, in particular by releasing their agricultural potential, such as that of the Koumra - Sarh road in southern Chad ( see impact study ). Others consolidate important existing traffic routes that interconnect African capitals and link them to major ports, facilitating trade. In 1967, the paving of two road sections in Kenya, the first project financed by the AfDB, already had this vocation. The first stretch connects the cities of Eldoret, Kenya, the Timborora region, Uganda, Laying the foundations for a road route through which most of the exchanges between the countries of the Great Lakes region and the Indian Ocean are transiting today. The latter connected the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. It has become a major hub for both trade and tourism in both countries.
In total, more than 40,000km of roads have been paved via Bank financing, four times the distance from Tunis, the northernmost capital of the continent, to Cape Town in the extreme south.
African ports have also received a lot of funding. Points of entry into international trade, they are important elements for the economic competitiveness of African countries. 16 of them have been created, enlarged or modernized through AfDB financing, especially in West Africa: Cotonou (1979), Banjul (1982), Conakry (1983). Dakar (2009), Lom (2011). It is also, in part, through these ports that trade in landlocked countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger goes by. The institution has also supported shipyards (Cape Verde, Cameroon, Burundi).
By allowing freight and passengers to be transported over long distances and at lower cost, rail transport plays a structuring role for the economic activity and territorial cohesion of several African countries. The map shows the relative progress of Southern Africa and North Africa in this sector: these two regions bring together nine of the fourteen African countries that have applied for the ADB for railway projects. Tunisia (1975) and Zambia (1979) have paved the way, while the most recent projects concern Transnet operator in South Africa ( 2010 and 2014 ), as well as a multinational project Mozambique - Malawi (2015) . The latter two are supported by the Bank's private sector window.
Finally, in the aviation sector, the Bank has supported investments in some thirty airports across the continent. In large countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of which are assisted by the AfDB, air transport provides territorial cohesion and responds to emergencies such as food and medicines. By financing airports in archipelagos such as Cape Verde or Seychelles, the AfDB is helping to integrate them into global trade and tourism flows. In addition to the financing of terminals, the ADB has been committed to improving air safety for the past ten years through the implementation of training and equipment programs implemented by the regional economic communities.
Finally, what the map does not show: since 50 transport projects have evolved, going beyond the framework of the provision of infrastructures. "To realize their full potential, transport projects must be complemented by investments in other sectors of the economy," commented the evaluators of the first transport project financed by the AfDB (an extract from the report is available here ). In doing so, they were already laying the groundwork for what has since become the holistic approach adopted by the Bank: supporting local economic actors, associations, and strengthening the provision of education and health. Adapted to the local context.
Launched under the aegis of the East African Community, the Bank's first project finally recalls the importance of the coordination work carried out by the institution in close collaboration with the regional economic communities. Dialogue among decision-makers, capacity building of public actors, harmonization of regulatory environments and simplification of customs procedures are all elements that are not included in this map and play a key role in facilitating Movement of people and goods on the continent.
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