Introduction

Achieving sustainable economic growth, as a means of lifting the continent out of poverty, is the principal objective of Africa's infrastructure agenda. The achievement of this goal relies on the productivity of firms and on ensuring better living conditions for individuals across the continent. Accordingly, strengthening the foundations for higher productivity in the main cities and ensuring a more even distribution of basic living standards may be considered as the two key pillars of an infrastructure agenda.

Firms concentrate in cities in order to benefit from agglomeration economies, namely lower production costs through leveraging economies of scale and network efficiencies. By clustering, firms increase the demand for infrastructure, which will ensure that they reap cost savings from agglomeration. Roads, amenities, and services—information and communications technology (ICT), energy, and water and sanitation—are available in greater quantity and quality in cities compared with rural locations. Consequently, securing an appropriate level of investment in infrastructure will enhance the gains to be made from urban agglomeration.

While the components of a successful infrastructure agenda are already, to a greater or lesser extent, present in many African countries, they are often tainted by inefficiencies and low institutional capacity. As a consequence, productivity improvements demand an infrastructure agenda characterized by more efficient institutions, capable of providing the framework to build cost-effective and reliable infrastructure and the regulations to operate and maintain it.

The second axis for growth refers to a more even distribution in access to basic living conditions across Africa, in both rural and urban areas. An enabling strategy to enhance living conditions in cities entails framing not only a coherent urban agenda, but also a commensurate rural agenda, able to buffer the negative incentives for rural–urban migration. Cities experiencing a growing demand for basic services from unskilled immigrants face a long-term trend of economic deterioration. Their contribution to the productivity in the city is reduced while the city cannot afford to match their demands. Therefore, providing universal access to basic services across the whole urban system and its hinterland represents a macro mechanism for a healthy urbanization. This means adopting a broader vision of the type of technologies that can be utilized; the bundling of services wherever possible to increase effectiveness; making use of land planning instruments and policies that can respond to an increase in demand; and a complementary rural development strategy.