Transport and ICT infrastructure development in the ECOWAS sub-region : the PPP funding alternative

The challenge of decrepit and deficit infrastructure across all sectors in the ECOWAS sub-region is symptomatic of the problems faced by sub-Saharan African countries and indeed the developing world. This paper analyses two critical infrastructure components in the regional community: transport and information and communication technology (ICT). Both theoretical and empirical literature on infrastructure find evidence that infrastructure development is critical to Africa's long-term economic growth, and that without deliberate, focused policy, the infrastructure gap will widen with attendant negative consequences on growth, poverty reduction and overall development. With a financing requirement of $1464 billion annually for the next decade, for power, transport and the ICT infrastructure components, coupled with volatile income sources as well as weak institutional capacity for resource mobilization in member states, the hope of bridging this infrastructure gap looks dismal. The paper believes that alternative funding can be found in the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Given the right policy and legal environment, the challenges inherent in the PPP framework could be attenuated to serve the needs of infrastructure financing in ECOWAS.