The Ernst & Young Attractive Survey Africa 2013 report has ranked Tanzania at ninth position out of 10 surveyed countries in infrastructure project investments by February this year.
Tanzania’s number of infrastructure projects, which were 29 worth Sh25.9 trillion ($16,185.1 million), was less than other two East Africa’s countries of Uganda and Kenya which were also among the studies in African countries.
The study showed that Uganda had the highest number of infrastructure projects, 63, worth Sh28.4 trillion (17,730.3 million), followed by Kenya which had 60 projects.
Of the three EAC states, Kenya had invested the highest amount worth Ksh52.6 billion ($32,851.5 million) for its 60 infrastructure projects.
The report studied ten African countries which are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Algeria, Mozambique, Libya, Tanzania and Cameroon.
The study showed that South Africa had the highest number of projects, 134, worth Sh207.9 trillion, followed by Nigeria which had 106 projects worth Sh152.7 trillion and Egypt had 82 projects worth Sh96.3 trillion.
Cameroon was ranked the least by having only 25 projects worth Sh13.6 trillion.
According to the report, the interviewees who had their investments in Africa told the researchers that transport and logistics were among the biggest challenges for doing business in Tanzania. The report found that, in 2012, there were over 800 active infrastructure projects across different sectors in Africa, with a combined value in excess of $700 billion.
Africa continues to suffer from infrastructure gap given that only 4 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is invested in infrastructure, compared to 14 per cent in China.
“If we can close the gap, we will add two additional percentage points to African GDP,” the regional director of the African Development Bank, Mr Ebrima Faal, was quoted in the Ernst & Young report.
The report added that it has been well established that Africa needs to spend approximately $90 billion a year for the next decade to upgrade and maintain its infrastructure.
To date AfDB has financed about $40 billion a year, so the deficit each year is estimated to be about $50 billion.
“We will also need to focus on the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, where a huge funding gap also exists. Clearly, the need is urgent, and innovative and bold approaches are required — a business-as-usual approach will not suffice,” said Mr Faal.
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