Infrastructure Deficits as Barriers to Fdi Attraction in Sierra Leone: A Strategic Analysis

Infrastructure is the physical grammar of an investment climate. Where roads, power, ports and networks function, capital can read the country; where they fail, even generous incentives struggle to persuade. This article examines how infrastructure deficits constrain foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Sierra Leone and asks what strategic, institutional and financing choices could convert those deficits into a source of competitive advantage. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework that combines Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, new institutional economics, growth pole theory, endogenous growth theory, transaction cost economics and Porter’s diamond model, the study analyses secondary data from the World Bank, UNCTAD, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Sierra Leonean government sources, supported by comparative case analysis of eight African economies. The evidence shows that deficits in electricity, transport, logistics and digital connectivity raise production and transaction costs, compress the set of viable investment projects towards enclave extractives, and depress investor confidence through unreliability rather than absence alone. Institutional fragmentation, weak project preparation capacity and constrained fiscal space compound the physical deficits. Comparative analysis of Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Mauritius, Botswana, Morocco and Namibia indicates that credible sequencing, independent regulation and disciplined public-private partnership frameworks matter as much as capital expenditure. The article proposes a phased infrastructure investment roadmap centred on power sector recovery, gateway efficiency, corridor rehabilitation and digital backbone completion, financed through a blended architecture that respects debt sustainability limits. It contributes an integrated institutional and strategic account of infrastructure-constrained FDI in a small post-conflict economy and sets an agenda for firm-level empirical research.