Africa’s infrastructure shortage, which is estimated to be between 130 and 170 billion per annum, is a major setback to regional trade integration and attainment of Agenda 2063 goals. In this paper, the researcher examines the impacts of the infrastructure investments made under the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) and the Programme to Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) on intra-African trade performance in terms of enhancing the performance of cross-border connectivity, corridor efficiency, and trade facilitation mechanisms. Using a qualitative study of institutional reports, implementation statistics of the PIDA Priority Action Plan (PAP) and secondary trade statistics, this research evaluates particular dimensions, such as the relationship between infrastructure and trade costs, performance of the corridors, efficiency of its borders, the influence of ICT digitalization, and impact of energy infrastructure on the competitiveness of manufacturing. Results on ICT infrastructure show significant improvements, having achieved 150 percent of the target, and on transport connectivity, which is 16, 066km of roads and 120 One Stop Border Posts. However, there are persistent challenges in terms of transforming infrastructure investments into trade deliverables. The critical gaps are established in limited participation by the private sector (3% in PAP 1), low project bankability (only 25% attaining feasibility), and lack of institutional coordination to facilitate policy harmonization. In spite of the increase in physical connectivity, trade costs and intra-African trade flows are still limited by non-tariff barriers, poor logistics performance, and fragmented regulations, despite showing clear causal links between policy tools and trade outcomes via infrastructure mechanisms. Policy suggestions include improving the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (IPPF), performance monitoring systems in the corridors, increasing the pace of digital trade facilitation platforms, and creating performance-based incentives towards harmonization of policies between the regions to maximize the trade dividends as a result of infrastructure investments.
Victor Akinleye (Fri,) studied this question.