By Right Honourable, Raila Amollo Adinga*
When the three heads of states from Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan commissioned the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) on 2nd March, 2012, it marked a great milestone for Africa in re-shaping the economic landscape, fostering integration, boosting trade, and unlocking a wealth of opportunities.
This was after realization that LAPSSET was more than just an infrastructure project which carried the transformative vision of not only the Eastern Africa countries but also for the entire continent. This view is alluded in the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and was reinforced after the elevation of LAPSSET to Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) level in 2015.
Since its admission to PICI, LAPSSET has gained considerable visibility allowing multi-stakeholder engagement, creating synergies and opening up opportunities and interest from potential partners and investors.
The Lamu Port which lies along the Indian Ocean in Kenya, provide an anchor to the LAPSSET Corridor programme. LAPSSET corridor is envisioned to connect the East Coast of Africa to the West Coast of Africa through the proposed East-West Trans-African Beltway Corridor. Its main components include; the Inter-regional standard gauge railway lines, Inter-regional highways running parallel to the standard gauge railway, Crude oil pipeline, Product oil pipeline, Merchant oil refinery, Fibre optic cables among others. It connects to larger trans-Africa beltway which amounts to over 50,000 km symbolizing Africa’s commitment to progress and enhanced interconnectivity.
The beltway is key for transport and logistics, market access and promotion of trade. It will speed up full exploitation of the economic potentials for African countries by opening up new markets and business through establishment of development Zones such as Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Industrial Parks along the corridor.
The beltway will be a critical accelerator in implementation of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) by enhancing efficient movement of goods and services across Africa. At the end, the well-being and quality of life of the population would improve due to a better access to modern transport infrastructure and creation of jobs including in the sectors of trade, transport and ecotourism, for women, youth, people with disabilities and minorities.
Just like other regional transborder infrastructure programmes, the prospects of LAPSSET corridor is to poster stronger integration with efficient transport system to facilitate trade and socioeconomic integration. This starts by opening up the landlocked Countries of Ethiopia and South Sudan to global maritime trade while facilitating trade and integration to a combined population of 185 million and with a GDP of 233 Billion USD.
After completion, the LAPSSET Corridor is envisaged to link with the Trans-African Cape to Cairo Highway through the proposed East-West Trans-African Beltway Corridor. This will cover three Regional Blocks and offer the possibilities of connecting 800 million people and integrating a region with over one trillion USD GDP.
As a Pan-Africanist, I believe that that regional integration goes beyond the construction of hard infrastructure development. In Africa there are eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs) founded extremely on the premise of geographical location and socio-economic profiles. This is geared towards facilitating regional economic integration and addressing regional economic imbalances.
However structural economic transformation has eluded many economies in Africa due to weak institutional arrangements such as common laws and standards in operations among the RECs. Along those lines, I am aware that Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia are at the advance stage of setting up a LAPSSET regional coordination framework to take control of LAPSSET Implementation and facilitate seamless utilization of the completed components of the corridor. Truly, this is one way for African countries to conquer the challenges experienced in the implementation of cross border infrastructure programmes.
Although Africa is the least-integrated continent physically and economically with mounting infrastructure deficit, the potential of LAPSSET corridor in influencing connectivity across Africa is paramount. Among the nine (9) trans African highways, four (Algeria-Lagos, Tripoli- Windhoek, Cairo-Gaborone and Lagos-Mombasa) cut through LAPSSET corridor and others are linked to LAPSSET. It is evident that these transport corridor complements each other.
Therefore, as African leaders, we need to moot new ideas of accelerating the completion these transport corridors.
I believe that the African Union Commission should champion full implementation of infrastructure programmes under PIDA Priority Action Plan II (PAP II). This should include advocating for structural and institutional reforms to open up African economies to allow effective utilization of the completed components of these programmes.
In spite of the importance of infrastructure in supporting the growth, Africa still has a large infrastructure gap. According to the World Bank (2019), the Sub-Saharan Africa Countries should allocate 7.1 percent of GDP annually until 2030 to bridge the infrastructure gap.
The financing gap for Africa’s infrastructure is of great concern. The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that the continent’s infrastructure needs between US$ 130Bn-US$ 170Bn. While these figures may appear large, they represent a small percentage of the financial resources that exist on the continent, in both the government and private sectors. Africa needs to identify local sources for infrastructure finances and have collaborative efforts with relevant stakeholders to fast track resource mobilization.
The role of private Sector in financing infrastructure development need not to be underestimated. At the project preparation level, all requisite documents need to incorporate provision for beneficiary countries to either alone or jointly undertake Public Private Partnership (PPP) for components of their interest. This means member states ought to be free to marshal requisite political good will as well as increase publicity for common infrastructure programme including LAPSSET Corridor.
As we continue to seek solutions and deepen our conversation of unlocking the challenges faced in infrastructure development among the foot print countries, Member states must remain focused to the mandates of the African Union, the aspiration of the Agenda 2063 and a rallying point for African Union member States to achieve “the Africa we want”
*Hon Raila Odinga is a former Prime Minister of Kenya and candidate for the Chairmanship of the African Union Commission
