Resource information
Sound infrastructure is critical for
growth in East Africa. During 1995-2005, improvements in
infrastructure boosted growth by one percentage point per
year, due largely to wider access to information and
communication technologies (ICTs). Although power
infrastructure sapped growth in other regions of Africa, it
contributed 0.2 percentage points per year growth in East
Africa. If East Africa's infrastructure could be
improved to the level of the strongest performing country in
Africa (Mauritius), regional growth performance would be
boosted by some six percentage points, with power making the
strongest contribution. East Africa's infrastructure
ranks behind that of southern and western Africa across a
range of indicators, though in terms of access to improved
sources of water and sanitation and Internet density, it is
comparable with or superior to the subcontinent s leader,
southern Africa. By contrast, density of fixed-line
telephones, power generation capacity, and access to
electricity remain extremely low, though utility performance
is improving through regional power trades. The road network
is relatively good, although with some lengths of
poor-quality or unpaved roads. Surface transport is
challenged by border crossings, port delays, slow travel,
limited railways, and trade logistics, but the region has a
relatively mature and competitive trucking industry. Air
transport benefits from a strong hub-and-spoke structure but
has made little progress toward market liberalization. Of
the seven countries in the region, four are landlocked, two
have populations of fewer than 10 million people, and two
have an annual gross domestic product of less than $10
billion. The difficult economic geography of East Africa
makes a regional approach to infrastructure development
necessary to achieve further improvement.
