Governments in Africa need to join with the private sector to help expand power networks and light up the continent, Carlos Pone, ABB’s country manager in South Africa, said at an international meeting in Cape Town.
Public-private partnerships are an effective way to carry out energy infrastructure projects that create jobs and promote intra-regional trade, he told the World Economic Forum meeting in June.
Pone cited successful examples of such partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa, such as the power supply to the Mozal smelter near Maputo, which involves various companies and the governments of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa.
"We can't look at Africa and see the glass half empty all the time,” Pone said. “We need to see the glass half full, as do the larger developing nations such as China."
Major potential public-private partnerships include the Inga dam project on the Congo River and using Nigerian oilfield gas flares to generate electrical power, he said. Speaking at a panel discussion on "Infrastructure across borders," Pone added that one of ABB’s most modern technologies was being used to link electricity networks across the border of Namibia and Botswana.
Panel moderator Sean Cleary of Strategic Concepts, a consultant, said the World Bank put sub-Saharan Africa at the bottom of all developing regions in terms of physical and social infrastructure. Infrastructure spending has stayed constant at about $10 billion a year, which is just 3 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's gross domestic product, whereas twice as much is required for sustainable economic growth.
Although 15 percent of investment in new infrastructure is from the private sector, two-thirds of this is going into telecommunications, leaving a relatively small amount for other areas of infrastructure, Cleary said.
Responding to a question on the sustainability of large projects, Pone said that sustainability criteria are part of the risk review that takes place at ABB before any contract is signed. He added that ABB is also investing large sums in developing energy-efficient technologies, and in research and development into renewable energy technologies.
The World Economic Forum meeting at Cape Town was attended by more than 800 participants from more than 50 countries. Participants included heads of government, government ministers, business leaders and representatives from civil society.