Towards a Connected Continent
Infrastructure and energy are two important areas for African countries to achieve sustainable development, as well as are among the priorities in the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the continent’s ambitious development blueprint. In February, Lerato Mataboge was elected as the African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy. She is a global policy and trade and investment facilitation expert and was the deputy director general in the South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition when she was elected.
Before she moved to Addis Ababa to assume her new role, ChinAfrica interviewed her about infrastructure and energy development in Africa and cooperation with China. Edited excerpts of the interview follow.
Priorities after taking office
Regarding infrastructure construction and energy development, there are three areas we should focus on.
One is the revitalisation of Africa’s industrial renaissance, and within that, there will be a focus on strategic projects and the mobilisation of finance. The second area is the transformation of Africa. African financing is critical in achieving this. The third area is building a capable African Union. It is important to make sure that the organisation is left in a better place.
On the Belt and Road Initiative
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) focuses on enhancing infrastructure connectivity in the world. Many African countries participate in this initiative. The African Union will further strengthen cooperation with China in building and upgrading the continent’s infrastructure.
The infrastructure deficit in Africa makes it important to maintain and strengthen partnerships all over the world, and the partnership with China is critical.
China will remain strategic to Africa. We need to review our relationship to see, in delivering this infrastructure agenda, what we can learn, and what we can do better. But certainly, we’ll maintain that relationship with China.
On new energy development
China is in a leading position in renewable energy development, such as solar and wind power generation, photovoltaic panel production, and turbine production.
China can play an important role in a partnership with Africa as it can contribute to harnessing Africa’s own potential. Africa has abundant solar, wind, and hydro resources. The missing link is the technology needed to harness that natural endowment.
China’s contribution to investment in research and development has been quite critical, and the world, particularly Africa, can benefit from that research and development.
China has advanced capability and technology in solar power generation, and that can help African countries to solve some of their energy problems because a lot of African countries have rural areas where distances between communities are vast. So, large grids won’t necessarily work. In this context, they need to have agile off-grid solutions, and that is where partners like China, who have dealt with such problems, can be of help.
Strengthening connectivity in Africa
As for challenges in infrastructure construction in Africa, we still consume what we do not produce and produce what we do not consume.
The current problem that Africa faces is the fact that we still have a colonial model of infrastructure planning. From the colonial days, infrastructure was planned in a way that it moved from the nearest resource base, whether it was an agricultural resource or a mineral resource, outward to the nearest port.
That has had an impact on the levels of intra-African trade. African countries trade very little with each other because they don’t have the connecting infrastructure, and that infrastructure gap among African countries should definitely be bridged.
So, the next priority will be improving interconnectivity among African countries. We need to build rail, road, and even maritime transport that connects the continent internally so that we can do intra-African trade and consume African products as much as possible, while of course still maintaining trade relations with the rest of the world.
The BRI can help to improve this situation, as it follows the principles of “extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits.” Those principles resonate with Africa, which is in line with African countries’ interests.
