The Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki says Africa's economic growth will be stifled unless the energy challenges experienced by most African countries are tackled and resolved.
Mayaki was delivering a keynote address on the first day of the Africa Investment Initiative Conference organised by NEPAD and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and hosted by the Department of Trade and industry (the dti) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) at the Southern Sun O R Tambo International Airport today.
Boosting Private Sector Investment in African Energy Infrastructure was one of the topics that were discussed at conference. Top-level African actors, including ministers and industry heads, are attending the conference held to address ways of catalysing resources for strengthening supply-side and trade capacities of African countries.
"Africa is facing an energy challenge. Energy availability is critical for economic growth. With the electrification density of Sub-Saharan Africa only 25%, it is obvious that economic growth would be stifled unless this issue is tackled head on. The African energy gap, by many estimates, amounts to US$25 billion. Funding streams and options are very limited for African countries. Attracting more private sector investment is one option, but that requires the right mix of incentives and measures which African countries could offer. We are fully aware that the pre-eminent requirement is macro-economic stability,” said Mayaki.
He added that the involvement of the private sector to build Africa’s energy infrastructure was a necessity. However, this was made difficult by various factors such as poor legal and regulatory environments, underdeveloped capital markets, difficult fiscal regime and other uncertainties such as complicated bureaucratic procedures.
In his opening remarks, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mario Amano said although Africa was endowed with massive energy potential, progress in expanding electricity generation had been slow, with many countries being besieged by power shortages. Amano challenged delegates attending the conference to ensure that their discussions identify impediments to investing in the energy sector, as well as ways and means of addressing them.
Ministers and Deputy Ministers from Uganda, Malawi, Senegal and Cameron took part in a Ministerial Meeting on Resources for Trade and Innovation: Enhancing African Productive Capacity. The session was hosted by the South African Department of Science and Technology and chaired by the Department's Deputy Director-General Marjorie Pyoos.
For more information, contact:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 073 522 6801
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
11 November 2009
