Addis Ababa - "Consolidated infrastructure projects" has been identified by African Union Chairperson Jean Ping as a key requirement for any region to realise economic growth.
In an interview with BuaNews ahead of the 12th AU Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mr Ping said infrastructure was a broad theme which covered a variety of sectors, all of which contributed positively to economic growth.
"It is therefore vital to create an informative map on all infrastructure projects in order to harmonize them for the optimisation of resources."
Mr Ping said the summit, which will convene under the theme: Infrastructure Development in Africa, would bring much needed opportunity to promote an appropriate policy for infrastructure development on the continent.
Africa's growth performance has improved markedly during the last decade. Ten out of 48 countries experienced sustained economic growth in excess of 5 percent for the past three years or longer.
According to the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), infrastructure contributed 99 basis points to per capita economic growth over the period 1990 to 2005.
While the ICA said external funding would not solve all of Africa's problems, it did say that Africa should prioritise an increase in the level of domestic financing for infrastructure.
"African governments must continue to mobilise the additional domestic resources," said Mr Ping, adding that it both promotes growth and helps to attract further private invertestment.
He said there was a further need to increase the efficiency of existing infrastructure. This was because more efficient infrastructure will result in lower costs, freeing up domestic finance for investment and encouraging more outside investments.
Mr Ping said the AU would utilise the summit to appraise member states on where the continent's infrastructure's constraints were and how they could better improve them.
"One of the things we aim to do is obtain guidance and commitment from member states for continental infrastructure policy interventions and programmes and see how we can appeal to development partners for cooperation and funding of these projects."
Meanwhile, the World Bank has announced that it would expand its development works to 40 African countries from the current 24 states.
As part of this new initiative to enhance its development partnership with Africa, the World Bank Ethiopia office has called a regional consultation forum to be held on Friday.
In a statement, the bank said the consultative forum was called to assess the World Bank's ongoing development and infrastructure activities in Africa.
The World Bank is investing billions of US dollars annually to support various infrastructure projects on the continent, home to close to a billion people.
The bank is currently supporting the African Development Bank, the New partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and other development activities on the continent.
