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CONSTRUCTION
Infrastructure
IT usage will reach 6,000 gigabits per second by 2018.
renewable sources of energy); transport (air, sea, rail, road, rivers and lakes); transboundary water resources (primarily irrigation, hydropower, and lake and river transport; and ICT. The programme envisages African countries growing on average by six per cent a year between 2010 and 2040, driven by favourable demographics – surging middleclass population, rising number of workforce, higher levels of education and technology absorption. Growth projection implies that,
over the next three decades, Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) will expand six-fold, while average per capita income will exceed US$10,000 for all countries. By 2040 more than 100 cities of more than a million residents is expected to appear on the map (compared to 51 in 2010), of which seven ‘super-cities’ topping 10mn people. Rapid urbanisation on the continent demands that major African cities become globally competitive in the Global Cities space. To cope smoothly with strong future demographics
trends requires huge public and private investments into electrification, mass transport systems, including paved roads, high-and-subways and railroads, affordable social housing, water treatment plants and social services in terms of hospitals, schools, universities, training institutes and recreation, as well as the expansion of wireless and Internet connectivity. Roust demand Electricity: The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that power usage will expand from 590 terewatt hours (TWh) in 2010, to more than 3,100 TWh by 2040. To keep pace, installed power generation capacity must reach at least 700 gigawatts (GW) in 2040 – a hike of nearly six-fold from 125 GW in 2010. Africa’s chronic power deficit takes a heavy toll on economic growth and productivity. Many countries rely on inefficient, expensive, small-scale, oil-based power generation. Frequent power outages force firms to use generators that cost US$0.40 per kilowatt-hour. Connectivity: Transport volumes across the sub-regions will swell by six-to-eight times over the same period, with exceptional robust increases of 14 times for some 15 landlocked
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African Review of Business and Technology - March 2014
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