The Civil Engineering Contractor April 2019 | Page 22

FEATURE: INFRASTRUCTURE
Infra the key to
intra-African trade
A challenge to South African trade is that our ports are as expensive as European ones.
By Eamonn Ryan
One development which may ultimately spark widespread airport, harbour, and railway
infrastructure development, is the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) —
albeit so far it has only been talk.
C
urrently, the cost of moving
goods in Africa is five times
higher than in the US. In
some areas of Africa, transport costs
alone constitute higher barriers to
trade than any other trade restrictions.
However, trade facilitation must go
beyond the traditional preoccupation
with transport and roads, targeting
logistics companies, delays at border
controls, corruption, and customs
regulations, says a report by the
Helen Suzman Foundation.
“The need for TF (trade facilitation)
was exemplified in Rwanda when
the introduction of an electronic
single-window customs clearance
system took the country from
20 | CEC April 2019
131st to 87th in the World Bank’s
ease of trade ranking. The United
Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD)’s
automated customs data system
would be useful to this end and
has already been adopted by 44 AU
(African Union) states.
“According to UNCTAD, if
improvement in TF is realised through
AfCFTA, a further USD85-billion
would be added to intra-African
trade. A renewed vigour is required
in the continental efforts already
under way to improve TF.”
The challenge in this sector is
state-owned monopolies. Transnet is
dominant, with its rail infrastructure
representing about 80% of all Africa’s
rail network. It is building on that
dominance with the establishment
of Transnet International Holdings
through which it intends (like
Airports Company South Africa, or
Acsa) to extend its services to the
rest of Africa.
Rail’s scorecard mixed
The South African Institution of
Civil Engineering (SAICE) 2017
Infrastructure Report Card for South
Africa gives a mixed rating for the
country’s railway infrastructure:
• B+ for heavy-haul freight lines:
“The 22 400 route-km or
30 400 track-km freight rail
www.civilsonline.co.za