Power represents Africa’s largest infrastructure challenge, a new report argues.Titled ‘Foundations for Growth – Infrastructure Investment in Emerging Markets’,
the report has been drafted by Llewellyn Consulting on behalf of commodity trading and logistics group Trafigura.
Co-author Russell Jones says that, while the infrastructure gaps relating to water and transport are also “colossal”, the electricity backlog remains the highest priority, as without power many of the other infrastructure challenges cannot be dealt with.
The 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with a combined population of 936-million, generate less electricity than France, with a population of 65-million.
“Electricity consumption is also very low, and lags well behind other developing countries.
Power shortages and outages are common and often extended, leading to disastrous economic losses,” the report notes.
African firms are losing 5% of their sales because of frequent power outages, while the figure for the informal sector is estimated to be as high as 20%.
Article written by Terence Creamer – for the full article, please follow the link below.
