Infrastructure Development In Africa Research Articles

Understanding the Impacts of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) (2013-2023)

Understanding the Impacts of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) (2013-2023)

Quality Governance, the Spice for Quality Infrastructure Development in Africa

This article examines the relationship between quality governance and infrastructure development. Quality governance is measured through government effectiveness (GE). GE measures the perceptions of the quality of public services, civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures. It also captures the quality of policy formulation and implementation, as well as the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Similarly, infrastructure development is measured through infrastructure composite index. The study is anchored by the positivism philosophical underpinnings, with an ontological view of reality exists independent of the researcher and the epistemological view of the researcher does not influence the study since the truth can be ascertained through the measurable indicators. Furthermore, the research design is descriptive and regression in nature. The study employs secondary data accessed from world governance indicators and world bank data respectively. Their methods of data collection are upheld as is. The data was retrieved, cleaned, sorted, normalized, and analyzed using STATA. The findings indicate a positive relationship between infrastructure development and quality governance. This article highlights the need for the African continent to improve quality governance for it to attain better infrastructure development. Given that, it was only Mauritius and Seychelles with positive indicative measures above 50%.

Understanding the Impacts of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) (2013-2023)

Understanding the Impacts of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) (2013-2023)

Enhancing Project Management for SMEs: A Hybrid Approach

Objective: South Africa's economic growth and development are closely intertwined with government-prioritized infrastructure development projects. However, SMEs in this sector often grapple with insufficient project management processes, impeding their efficacy and economic contributions. The issue stems from the inadequate implementation of project management methodologies by SMEs, which adversely affects project outcomes and consequently their economic impact. Research Design & Methods: A literature review was conducted to assess the implementation of project management methodologies by SMEs in South African infrastructure development projects. The objective is to highlight areas for improvement, rectify the deficiency in project management practices among SMEs, and bolster their effectiveness and economic contributions. Findings: Preliminary findings accentuate the critical role of project management as a discipline for SMEs involved in infrastructure projects. Its absence or inadequate implementation hampers the growth and sustainability of organizations aiming to make substantial economic contributions and create employment. A hybrid project management model tailored for SMEs in infrastructure development emerges as a mechanism for effectively managing infrastructure projects. Implications and Recommendations: The conceptualization of a hybrid project management model for infrastructure development projects holds the potential to enhance project value by facilitating adaptability. By incorporating agile project management components, this model also stands to improve client engagement, consequently elevating the prospects of success in infrastructure development projects. Contribution & Value Added: This study contributes to the understanding of how SMEs can improve their effectiveness and economic contributions in South Africa's infrastructure development sector. The proposed hybrid project management model offers valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers in South Africa, ultimately fostering economic development and sustainable growth in the country.

Forecasting China-Africa economic integration using Wavelet-ARIMA hybrid approach

China-Africa economic integration generally looks lucid, as evidenced by rising bilateral trade, as well as Chinese FDI, aid, and debt financing for infrastructure development in Africa. The engagement, however, appears to be strategically channeled to benefit China’s resource endowment strategy. First, Chinese FDI in Africa is primarily resource-seeking, with minimum manufacturing value addition. Second, China has successfully replicated the Angola model in other resource-rich African countries, and most infrastructure loans-for-natural resources barter deals are said to be undervalued. There is also a resource-backed loan arrangement in place, in which default Chinese loans are repaid in natural resources. Third, while China claims that its financial aid is critical to Africa’s growth and development processes, a significant portion of the aid is spent on non-development projects such as building parliaments and government buildings. This lend credence to the notion that China uses aid to gain diplomatic recognition from African leaders, with resource-rich and/or institutionally unstable countries being the most targeted. The preceding arguments support why Africa’s exports to China dominate other China’s financial flows to Africa, and consist mainly of natural resources. Accordingly, this study aims to forecast China-Africa economic integration through the lens of China’s demand for natural resources and Africa’s demand for capital, both of which are reflected in Africa’s exports to China. The study used a MODWT-ARIMA hybrid forecasting technique to account for the short period of available China-Africa bilateral trade dataset (1992–2021), and found that Africa’s exports to China are likely to decline from US$ 119.20 billion in 2022 to US$ 13.68 billion in 2026 on average. This finding coincides with a period in which Chinese demand for Africa’s natural resources is expected to decline.

The Impact of Transport Infrastructure Development in Africa on the Development of Regional Integration in Africa

This paper, combined with scholars' current discussions on the importance of regional integration for national economic development, this paper focuses on showing that poor transportation hinders the import and export trade and the introduction of integration-specific talents in Africa, and that high-quality transportation infrastructure can improve trade facilitation and promote cross-regional trade, investment and the formation of a unified market on the African continent. It shows that good transportation can facilitate the development of regional economic integration in Africa and is an enabler of regional economic integration.

The Effects of Africa's Infrastructure Crisis and its Root Causes

The development and expansion of any continent's economy is mostly dependent on the availability of world-class infrastructure capable of attracting international investors. The development and expansion of Africa's infrastructure is imperative; hence this will improve the African economy. The development and expansion of infrastructure improves the economy, resulting in many economic prospects for the inhabitants of any continent. However, in Africa, infrastructure development, investment, and preservation are among the lowest in the world. Infrastructure development will not only attract foreign investment and business, but it will also enhance trade between countries within the region. Trade between countries within the region is also heavily impacted by poor infrastructure investment in the continent, this puts much limit economic prospects within the region. This is a major concern; thus, Africa has several deficiencies in transport, telecommunications, water, health, and education infrastructures, all of which are crucial for Africa development. This is one of the main reasons why Africa has the highest levels of unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, migration, and poor education and health care systems. The author contends that investments and development in the African regional infrastructure are relatively low. This is a major barrier to regional economic development since the development of the region's economy relies on the development of infrastructure. This is unfortunate; hence, the region economy already lacks capabilities to provide the people with economic opportunities. A qualitative method was used to investigate what is preventing infrastructure development in Africa and what this means for Africa as a developing continent.

Analyzing the Evolution of China-Africa Economic Integration: A Wavelet Approach

This study analyzes the evolution of Africa's degree of economic integration with China from 1993 to 2019. The study period encompasses a number of China-Africa bilateral economic treaties, which the literature claims are prolific and have significantly strengthened Africa's degree of economic integration with China. We develop a theoretical argument that, if this assertion holds, the integration indicator must reflect a long-run upward trend that is less obstructed by noise. To validate this argument, we use a wavelet approach and find no evidence necessitating failure to reject the null hypothesis of no periodicity, suggesting that the integration indicator was statistically noisy over the study period. This finding suggests that interpreting the evolution of China-Africa economic integration primarily through bilateral economic pacts can be deceptive. The interpretation should instead be exploratory in nature to unpack some hidden motivations associated with this integration. Our preliminary investigation revealed that the Angola Model is primarily driving China-Africa economic integration. Therefore, it is plausible to argue that China-Africa economic integration is perpetuated to exploit natural resources rather than to enhance hard infrastructure development in Africa, as purported in the literature.

China - Africa Trade and Investment Relations Under the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract China’s investment activities and infrastructure development in Africa under the Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”) have changed the prospects of economic cooperation between African countries and Asia’s largest economy. Africa plays a prominent role in one of the key BRI corridors, which explains China’s active engagement on the continent through the construction of hard infrastructure, port development and trade and investment activities. China is Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner and foreign direct investor. This paper analyses China’s investments and trade flows with Africa, the importance of African countries for the BRI and China-Africa relations within the geopolitical triangle US-EU-Russia. We applied correlation analysis to assess the intensity of the relationship between FDI and trade and an autoregressive model to extrapolate import and export data for a given period with the aim of forecasting trends in the development of China - Africa economic relations. Empirical results indicate a strong correlation between China’s FDI to African countries and their trade flows. The autoregressive model estimates a substantial increase in their trade flows, which, along with China’s infrastructural development in Africa, suggests a change in the dynamics of their trade cooperation and in the geographical structure of African countries’ foreign trade.

A Systematic Literature Review on Local Sustainability Assessment Processes for Infrastructure Development Projects in Africa

Reviews on sustainability assessment research have shown that Africa is lagging in this research area. As a result, few African countries have local sustainability assessment processes for infrastructure development. Considering the vital role of infrastructure to Africa’s development, the identification of only a few countries with local sustainability assessment processes raises questions on the overall state of sustainability assessment in the continent. To date, there is no study that gives a definite account of which African countries have local sustainability assessment processes for infrastructure. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify and analyze local sustainability assessment process for infrastructure development in an African country. Using PRISMA to guide the review process, the study showed that six processes have been created for infrastructure development in Africa. The African countries with these processes are Egypt (three), Nigeria (one), Malawi and Kenya (one) and South Africa (one). The results showed that the sustainability assessment process correspond to most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets with social and economic considerations taking the lead in the processes created for energy and transport infrastructure development projects, whereas the sustainability assessment processes created for water supply, waste and communications infrastructure development projects have a balance of social, economic and environmental sustainability considerations. The review has revealed a need to create energy, transport and water supply infrastructure sustainability assessment processes that address current sustainability concerns such as climate change, social justice, equity, fairness and equality.

Türkiye: Infrastructure Provider for Africa with Benevolence

Africa emerged as a region to which Türkiye has engaged enthusiastically since 2003 when the Justice and Development Party came to power. Although Türkiye’s policy in Africa has many dimensions such as political, economic, religious, and cultural, this study focuses on its infrastructure investments. This paper argues that Türkiye’s commitment in infrastructure development in Africa is related with the President Erdoğan’s grand narrative of “The World is Bigger than Five” in Turkish foreign policy. Türkiye is not interested in material gains in the continent but it seeks to elevate and mobilize the African states in its endeavors to reform the current world order and to build a fairer world. Türkiye brands itself as a benevolent enterprising actor in Africa. This study deals with Turkish infrastructure practices and the President Erdoğan and other officials’ emphases on mutual gain and equal partnership in the projects in Africa. It also includes the infrastructure activities of Türkiye’s main competitors on the continent, China and France. While China engages in debt-trap diplomacy characterized by gaining stakes in shares of the infrastructures in exchange of writing off debts, France seeks to maintain its hegemonic status on the continent through infrastructure investments. Türkiye differs itself from these actors with its sincere statements and responsible investments on the continent, raising its image among the African population.

Infrastructure Development as a Prerequisite for Structural Change in Africa

Structural change is seen by development economics theorists as a driver of sustained and sustainable economic growth. African countries that have understood this prioritize structural change policies in their national development programs in order to reduce poverty and promote employment through commodity-based industrialization. How does infrastructure development contribute to this process? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question by examining empirically whether the state of infrastructure development in Africa stimulates structural change, understood as the development of the manufacturing sector. After outlining the state of infrastructure quality in the region, and discussing some theoretical channels through which this relationship might pass, we estimate fixed effects models from 52 African countries over the period 2003–2018. Results suggest that structural change in Africa is optimized with the development of infrastructure, particularly energy and information and communication technologies. These results are robust to the control of institutional dynamics, the natural resource curse hypothesis, the likely attrition bias, and the use of alternative measures of structural change and infrastructure quality. Among other policy implications arising from these findings, the establishment of partnership projects with other developed countries and the promotion of public–private partnerships.

A Sentiment Based Text Analysis of the Perception of Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa: Cases from Nigeria and Ethiopia

This paper investigates the perceptions of Africans on Chinese infrastructure development in Nigeria and Ethiopia. Using a sentiment-based text analysis methodology, this paper attempts to understand the perceptions and sentiments of Nigerians and Ethiopians on Chinese infrastructure projects. For this purpose, we choose Nigeria and Ethiopia as important destinations of Chinese investment in Africa. Africa is not only rich in natural resources; it also possesses a young population that makes the bulk of the working force. Despite its rapid GDP growth and growing urbanization, the continent is still entangled in the midst of underdevelopment, poverty and an acute lack of infrastructure to stimulate and sustain this economic development. China’s investment in the continent is trying to tackle this infrastructure bottleneck by investing in the building of infrastructures such as roads, railways, ports and highways. The results show some overall positive popular sentiments towards Chinese infrastructure projects from both countries. To conclude, we argue for a need of more scrutiny from the parts of the leadership in Africa given the potential issues related to Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa.

China Belt and Road Initiative: Give-and-Take of Infrastructure Development in the North Africa Subregion

It is not a secret that Africa is richly endowed with raw materials, which has raised the stakes for foreign interests. The amplification of these riches has created a sense of urgency in developed nations to enter partnerships to have access to the resources. North Africa, though more advance than its sub-Saharan neighbors falls in the essential corridor of the Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI); and thus, requires infrastructure improvement to meet the overall BRI agenda. This yearning for infrastructure development in Africa has generally been met by China’s search for natural resources. The BRI is that infrastructure investment platform that allows for connectivity between member nations. This semi-systematic literature review identifies and appraises relevant research and collects and analyzes data about the impact of BRI on development in this subregion. Even though the BRI has shown some evidence of constructive growth in infrastructure connectivity, the opaque nature of the engagements has been the subject of harsh criticism; with some critics describing China’s motive as an attempt to recolonize Africa. Chinese partnerships in Africa have resulted in major investments and credit flows providing the much-needed resources to the BRI member countries to implement the very much needed development schemes, despite the main challenge that remains—sustenance of these extensive projects. The most significant implication of the BRI has been the concern about a possible conflict between China and the US. A key to averting open conflict between China and the US is through an alliance and coordinated response by Europe and the US.

Chinese FDI for Infrastructure Development in Africa – Assessing the Impact of Cooperation

Globalization today is quite effectively governed by patterns defined by China’s dominance in global trade and commerce. China has started to correspond with numerous countries in order to build economic corridors. Historically, China has a keen interest in African countries where cheap workers and plentiful resources are available. This opportunity has been favourably received by the African countries. However, it has been observed from various sources that Chinese investment in Africa has been intended for exploiting the resources and the countries in Africa. This study aims to investigate the potential impact of unprecedented Chinese FDI on infrastructure development in selected African countries. The empirical analysis is conducted by using a panel data approach for 28 African countries spanning from 2003-15. These empirical estimations have been carried out through fixed effects technique. The findings of the study reveal that Chinese investment has a positive impact on infrastructure development in the sample countries. Based on study findings, it is safely concluded that Chinese investment and infrastructure development move parallel in the sample countries.

Infrastructure development in Africa’s regions: investment trends and challenges

The purpose of this work is to provide information on the development of the infrastructure of the African economy. The study provides statistics on African regions and industries. This article focuses on the forms of economic and social infrastructure, and directs to determine the share development infrastructural in Africa. The Africa has entered an era of devastating change this study shows that with the unfolding economic downturn in the northern economies that have traditionally dominated the global economy. The article provides empirical evidence on how the industrial sectors developed from an economic point of view. The authors believe that infrastructure affects output and productivity directly as a contribution to the production function of other sectors and as part of GDP formation. The article discusses the development of infrastructure for the period 1999-2019 without more detailed dynamics. It also does not explain the main topics developed by the authors. The work provides knowledge on how investments are developing in Africa, how industries have developed, and what is the role of each infrastructure sector in this development. It also shows how different areas of infrastructure work with different successes in creating new paths in the African economy.

Infrastructure development in Africa (East African Transport)

In the article, the authors analyze the current state and prospects for the development of the transport infrastructure in the countries of East Africa. They provide latest data on projects in pipeline. Today, Africa is a dynamically developing continent with powerful economic, demographic and resource potential that will have a tangible impact on world development in the 21st century. The large-scale transformations that are taking place on the continent require an outstripping pace of infrastructure development, which, despite the success achieved, still does not meet its needs. While total capital investment in infrastructure projects in African countries in 2018 reached record level, the lack of funding remains one of the key obstacles for the development of African infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world in 2020 will further exacerbate the existing gap between investment needed and investment required. The economic potential of many infrastructure projects will decline. However, according to the authors, the negative impact will not be so large-scale due to the long-term nature of the contracts, as well as the socio-economic significance of the projects. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that in the context of an epidemiological crisis, both national and foreign investors who invest in the development of regional infrastructure seek to share their risks by attracting new financial partners. This situation opens up additional opportunities for Russian companies and enterprises to enter long-term and capital-intensive infrastructure projects in East Africa, which can become a solid basis for building Russian-African economic relations.

Infrastructure Development as a Prerequisite for Structural Change in Africa

Structural change is seen by development economics theorists as a driver of sustained and sustainable economic growth. African countries that have understood this prioritize structural change policies in their national development programs in order to reduce poverty and promote employment through commodity-based industrialization. How does infrastructure development contribute to this process? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question by examining empirically whether the state of infrastructure development in Africa stimulates structural change, understood as the development of the manufacturing sector. After outlining the state of infrastructure quality in the region, and discussing some theoretical channels through which this relationship might pass, we estimate fixed effects models from 52 African countries over the period 2003-2018. Results which are robust to controlling for institutional dynamics and the natural resource curse hypothesis suggest that structural change in Africa is optimized with the development of infrastructure, particularly energy and information and communication technologies. Among other policy implications arising from these findings, the establishment of partnership projects with other developed countries in terms of superstructure for enhanced industrialization is recommended.

Infrastructure development in Africa (East African electricity sector)

In the article, the authors analyze the current state and prospects for the development of the energy infrastructure in the countries of East Africa. They provide data from various sources on the facilities under construction in the field of electricity generation. Today, Africa is a dynamically developing continent with powerful potential that will have a tangible impact on world development in the 21st century. The large-scale transformations that are taking place on the continent require an outstripping pace of infrastructure development, which, despite the success achieved, still does not meet its needs. Africa is the least electrified continent in the world, where half of the population does not have access to electricity. The authors come to the conclusion that a surplus of installed capacity already exists in certain states of East Africa, and in the medium term will reach regional proportions when all power plants under construction are put into operation. To effectively use the excess of electricity, as well as to unlock the potential of both regional and interregional trade, it is necessary to develop transmission and distribution networks. Their underdevelopment is a serious obstacle to expanding the population's access to electricity. Companies from both traditional and new partner countries are actively involved in electricity projects in East Africa. The participation of companies from Russia at the moment is very limited, despite the existing experience and technological base. The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world in 2020 will undoubtedly have a negative impact on global financial flows and the implementation of electricity projects (the suspension of several projects has already been announced). However, according to the authors, the negative impact will not be so large-scale due to the long-term nature of the contracts, as well as the socio-economic significance of the projects.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS INTO EASTERN AFRICA REGION: THE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT NEXUS

Infrastructure development is an essential element in economic growth and development. Good infrastructure fosters low transaction costs hence making production efficient and attracting foreign direct investments. However, there has not been adequate scholarly focus on how infrastructure development can affect the flow of foreign direct investments hence this paper sought to fill this gap. This paper utilized panel data from 12 eastern Africa countries from 2004 through 2017. Data on Infrastructure development variables was obtained from the Africa Development Bank’s, Africa Infrastructure Development Index, that of control variables from the World Development Indicators kept by the World Bank and that of Foreign direct investments from UNCTAD. Due to the presence of heteroscedasticity in sample data, the study opted for a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) estimation method. The study established a significant relationship between infrastructure development and foreign direct investment inflows into the eastern Africa region. However, only Africa Infrastructure Index and Electricity Composite Index were positive while Transport Composite Index, ICT Composite Index and Water Supply and Sanitation Index were negative. Reasons being, Transport, ICT, water and sanitation are considered as social development factors. One of the control variables, total tax and contribution rate was negative indicating a unit increase in tax leads to a decrease in foreign direct investments whereas market size was positive and significant. The study recommends to policy makers to allocate resources into infrastructure development as an enabler of production efficiency, appraise the tax system to ensure a balance is stroked between taxing of investment returns and generating adequate tax revenue from multinationals and enhance its markets through multilateral and preferential trade agreements and regional integration agreements.