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Joseph Ngwawi Correspondent
Infrastructure is key to regional development and the programme is being reviewed and adjusted for closer alignment with plans to industrialise the region and the African continent.

The importance of infrastructure as an enabler of industrialisation and trade is widely acknowledged in regional, continental and international policy instruments.

The Doha Development Agenda for example, as well as the United Nations Almaty Programme of Action and its successor programme, the Vienna Plan of Action that is targeted to support the special needs of landlocked developing countries, identifies infrastructure development and maintenance as one of six priority areas.

Several programmes and strategies are in place to improve infrastructure as an anchor for sustainable transformation, through enhanced trade competitiveness. These include the

SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP),

Revised SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015-2020,

Tripartite Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme,

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Short-Term Action Plan, and the

Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).

The historic adoption of the RIDMP in 2012 was informed by the decision of SADC member states that infrastructure development and maintenance is a priority for accelerated regional integration, economic development and trade.

Members states decided that the key barriers to trade and industrialisation could be addressed through the provision of seamless trans-boundary infrastructure for transport, power generation and transmission systems, regional telecommunications infrastructure, as well as river basin organisations, water supply and sanitation.

This placed integrated infrastructure development as a second priority in the context of the SADC regional integration process and its current plan, the Revised RISDP 2015-2020.

The central framework for implementing Priority B of the RISDP is underpinned by the infrastructure master plan, the RIDMP.

SADC has, therefore, acknowledged that regional infrastructure is a key enabler of the integration agenda as envisioned through the RISDP and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap, among other strategic frameworks.

The success of these strategic frameworks requires regular assessment of progress with implementation.

The RIDMP was to be rolled out in phases of five years, with the first phase running from 2012-2017.

A SADC Extraordinary Summit in March 2017, held in Swaziland (now eSwatini), directed the SADC Secretariat to review the SADC Infrastructure Project Portfolio in the RIDMP to determine priorities to be focused at regional level in relation to national level in member states.

The secretariat was directed to work with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop the necessary instruments and frameworks such as infrastructure bonds, partial risk guarantees, insurance guarantees and partial credit guarantees for use in member states.

The secretariat was also directed to leverage the AfDB Industrialisation Strategy for Africa (2016-2025).

The strategy aims to develop the industrial sector and policy framework in Africa; strengthen intra-Africa trade and integrate Africa into regional and international value chains; and boost competitiveness and value creation in Africa by expanding the supply of business services to maximise impact on the performance of industries.

To achieve these goals, the AfDB strategy aims to strengthen five enablers for industrialisation.

These are supportive policy, legislative and institutional environment; conducive economic environment and infrastructure; access to capital; access to markets; and competitive talents, capabilities, and entrepreneurship.

The SADC Secretariat, with the support of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has engaged the economic development institute of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) to carry out an assessment of results achieved by the RIDMP Short Term Action Plan (STAP) 2012-2017.

The secretariat, in partnership with AfDB, DBSA, and NEPAD, organised a meeting of technical experts from member states to discuss the preparation of a priority list of infrastructure projects for the region.

The meeting, held in Johannesburg, South Africa in May, produced a list of regional infrastructure projects that can be implemented in the short to medium-term, which AfDB aims to implement in partnership with development finance institutions such as DBSA.

The adoption of RIDMP by the 32nd SADC Summit held in Maputo, Mozambique in 2012 provided an opportunity for member states to cooperate in rolling out the priority infrastructure projects, on which there was regional consensus. The master plan comprised three phases:

Short Term Action Plan – STAP (2012-2017);

Medium Term Action Plan (2017 – 20122);

Long Term Action Plan (2022-2027).

This is in line with the SADC Vision 2027, a 15-year implementation horizon for forecasting infrastructure requirements in the region.

It is also in line with the African Union’s PIDA and constituted a key input into the Tripartite Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme that is jointly implemented by SADC, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community.

The SADC Master Plan guides implementation of coordinated, integrated, efficient, trans-boundary infrastructure networks in the six priority sectors of energy, transport, tourism, Information Communication Technology (ICT), meteorology and water.

Interventions are clustered into six sectoral plans, each representing the priority sectors.

The Energy Sector Plan seeks to address the four priority areas of energy security, improving access to modern energy services, tapping the abundant energy resources, and increasing financial investment while enhancing environmental sustainability.

Regarding the sub-sectors of road, rail, ports, inland waterways and air transport networks, the Transport Sector Plan aims to address four key areas through improving access to the “seamless transport corridors” value chain; reducing the cost of transportation; enhancing competitiveness; and providing safe and secure transport services.

The ICT Sector Plan is designed to address four key areas, to ensure accessibility, including universal access to broadband ICT technologies; accelerate regional integration through broadband interconnectivity within and among SADC member states; reduce the cost of doing business; and improve the reliability and security of ICT infrastructure.

The Water Sector Plan prioritises five goals, which are: increased water storage in the region; irrigated land for food security; hydropower generation for energy security; increasing access to safe drinking water; and strengthening sanitation services for SADC citizens.

The Tourism Sector Plan is geared towards achieving enhanced socio-economic development; facilitating joint marketing of SADC as a single destination; increasing tourism arrivals and tourism receipts from source markets; and developing the tourism sector in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Emphasis for the Meteorology Sector Plan is put on the need to ensure the availability of timely early warning information relating to adverse weather and climate variability impacts. Another highlight of the Meteorology Sector Plan is the development of a framework for harmonised indicators for the provision of relevant climate forecasting information to facilitate preparations of mitigation measures against droughts, floods and cyclones.

The development of RIDMP necessitated a diagnosis into the challenges faced by SADC with regard to the development of regional infrastructure projects.

A key challenge beyond the resources required for project preparation among member states and investment of bankable projects, is the prioritisation of projects.

Given that resources of time, labour and capital are always limited, SADC member states must give priority to infrastructure projects that yield economic and social benefits most efficiently.

The challenge is acute for the SADC region where the lack of a strategically selected list of infrastructure projects is often a crucial factor inhibiting the potential for developing and financing of priority projects. – SADC Today.