6th PIDA Week Highlights

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Last week, the DevDispatch participated in the 6th PIDA Week from 18-21 January 2021. The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) is the African Union’s (AU) strategic framework for regional and continental infrastructure development, guiding the continental infrastructure development agenda, policies, and investment priorities.

Our participation in PIDA week focussed on conversations and recommendations on Africa’s infrastructure and the AfCFTA. Here are our key takeaways:

The African continent remains fragmented, making Infrastructure a more significant barrier than tariffs. Transport and ICT infrastructure are priority areas for the success of the AfCFTA.

Transport infrastructure

  • Transport costs contribute as much as 40% to the final price of goods (most intra-African trade is transported by road).
  • To be competitive at a global level, Africa must be able to move goods on the continent, to and from other regions, at the same speed or better than other regions.
  • Roads that link African states lack good infrastructure. However, roads leading to ports exporting outside Africa have good infrastructure.
  • Cross border road transport is regulated through a number of instruments: protocols, treaties, trilateral and bilateral road transport agreements. Misalignment of instruments implemented by respective countries contributes to unharmonized regulatory regimes, standards, permit systems, market access criteria and other requirements. This regulatory fragmentation is perhaps the biggest non-trade barrier to cross border transport movements and trade between countries in Africa.

Also important, regulatory authorities will need to monitor and control the quality of services that are rendered.

ICT infrastructure

  • Low broadband penetration, higher costs of connectivity and other special challenges of connectivity faced by landlocked countries are some of the barriers to ICT in Africa.

  • AfCFTA will benefit from ICT infrastructure including cybersecurity, cross border interconnection, migration from analog to digital broadcasting as well as harmonisation of digital broadcasting.

The AU and OECD launched the 2021 Africa’s Development Dynamics report on Digital transformation for quality jobs during PIDA Week examining the role of digitalization in making African economies more resilient, creating quality employment and fostering economic growth.

The report can be accessed here.