An infrastructure deficit is making life in African cities more expensive than it should be

[Trajan]

African cities are forecast to urbanize at a rate of 3.65% annually, adding nearly 350 million new city-dwellers by 2030, according to the Brookings Institution. A billion more people are expected to be living in African cities by 2063.

Population growth is the engine of urbanization for the continent, with most of the expansion in urban populations coming from natural growth, not rural-to-urban migration, as is often assumed. Already, big cities like Lagos and Kinshasa are growing rapidly—and with that growth comes many challenges.


The difficulty is that most of Africa’s worst problems are most evident and visceral in its cities. The sheer numbers of people, the teeming unemployed, the endless traffic jams, the bad road networks, the absence of meaningful infrastructure—it goes on.

Yet, there are three recurring difficulties with Africa’s rapid urbanization, according to a World Bank report out this month. First, the cities are crowded. That might seem obvious to a visitor. But this specifically refers to how both commercial and industrial and housing infrastructure investment has been unable to keep up with the rise in urban population. In other words, congestion and the associated costs overwhelm any expected benefits of urban concentration.

Then there’s the fragmented, disconnected nature of these cities. Residents are unable to easily move from one part of the city to the other due to unreliable and inefficient transport networks made up of minibuses, matatus, and danfos which traverse these cities. The lack of good networks that can move hundreds or thousands of people at a time contributes to limiting job opportunities for firms to reap scale and agglomeration benefits.

Finally, it’s expensive to live, invest, or run a business in an African city. The World Bank says African cities are 29% more expensive than cities in countries at similar income levels. Families in African cities have to spend 55% more on housing than other regions. The high transport, housing, and food costs make labor more expensive.

Fixing these challenges will help free Africa from what World Bank calls a “low-development trap.” The aim is to achieve physical and economic density, the kind of density of opportunity, talent, and infrastructure that brings higher efficiency and economies of scale.

Formalizing land markets, clarifying property rights, and effective urban planning alongside early and coordinated infrastructure investments should be prioritized strategies in helping Africa’s cities work.

All facts.

Governance is key. Business and commerce can only do so much in improving the standard of living. Bad politics means bad standard of living. No way around it.

If infrastructure money is stolen then people will forever rely on informal solutions like riding on the back of motorcycles.

An infrastructure deficit is making life in African cities more expensive than it should be

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Good article.
@MansaMusa @CashmereEsquire

 

[mbewane]

Big issue going forward. Why good government and long-term planning is crucial, but from the little I read here and there it seems all the focus is on transport between cities/countries (which is also extremely important) as opposed to movement within the city. Got a glimpse of this in Dakar and Tana, a former colleague who worked in Lagos told me traffic was insane.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

African cities are building out - not up. That's making the infrastructure problems worse. Africa needs denser cities.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The policy prescriptions in the article are very broad. Governments should look at the following things, I think:
- Are there municipal governments in your country? If not, get some and give them taxing powers. Also, let them do proper city planning. Give states powers over constructing public housing. Develop a funding framework (like Singapore's) which allows people to save up for homes/apartments.
- Are there monopolies in the production of steel or cement? If so, break them up. Cement monopolies in Nigeria make house construction very costly.
- Is food expensive? Look into barriers for transporting food like a lack of railways/quality roads and refigerations sites.

 

[TTT]

The problem is over centralization of many countries. Very few countries have a set up like Nigeria and SA with Abuja/Lagos or Pretoria/Joburg. A capital city that is also the commercial capital and other cities have very little economic activity. In other cases like Luanda it was a case of civil war that drives more people staying in cities than can be supported. Public transport also needs to be improved, private operators are dominant because the cities or state governments never took it seriously and we dont see much mass transit.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The problem is over centralization of many countries. Very few countries have a set up like Nigeria and SA with Abuja/Lagos or Pretoria/Joburg. A capital city that is also the commercial capital and other cities have very little economic activity. In other cases like Luanda it was a case of civil war that drives more people staying in cities than can be supported. Public transport also needs to be improved, private operators are dominant because the cities or state governments never took it seriously and we dont see much mass transit.

Centralization is a factor, sure. Adding on to this, governments need to recognize that the more major cities you have - the better your economy will do. Governments need to be willing to invest the money so that cities will develop. Shenzhen was a village 30 years ago. Now it has over 10 million people.

Nigeria has this problem too, actually despite having the Lagos/Abuja set up. Nigeria has a long coastline, but solely Lagos is being developed as its port to the world. Lagos' port today is choked with traffic and goods have difficulty moving from the port. Increasingly, people are going to Togo to smuggle goods into Nigeria. A sensible government would invest in capacity building at Warri, Port Harcourt and perhaps Calabar.

Nigeria needs 4 or 5 Lagos' to get things going.

 

[TTT]

Centralization is a factor, sure. Adding on to this, governments need to recognize that the more major cities you have - the better your economy will do. Governments need to be willing to invest the money so that cities will develop. Shenzhen was a village 30 years ago. Now it has over 10 million people.

Nigeria has this problem too, actually despite having the Lagos/Abuja set up. Nigeria has a long coastline, but solely Lagos is being developed as its port to the world. Lagos' port today is choked with traffic and goods have difficulty moving from the port. Increasingly, people are going to Togo to smuggle goods into Nigeria. A sensible government would invest in capacity building at Warri, Port Harcourt and perhaps Calabar.

Nigeria needs 4 or 5 Lagos' to get things going.

True, both countries have a federalized structure , in the case of SA it gives more power to provinces than a traditional Westminister set up, and that should in theory work for developmental issues. China's CCP set up internal competition among provinces to spur development, it worked well for them but it needs a strong central hand. You are right in that Nigeria could in theory have 4 or 5 big megacities that can be areas of significant economic activity.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

True, both countries have a federalized structure , in the case of SA it gives more power to provinces than a traditional Westminister set up, and that should in theory work for developmental issues. China's CCP set up internal competition among provinces to spur development, it worked well for them but it needs a strong central hand. You are right in that Nigeria could in theory have 4 or 5 big megacities that can be areas of significant economic activity.

I've been looking into South Africa's 'federalism'. It's very different. The provinces are quite weak in terms of the powers that have been allocated to them. I'll look into South Africa's division of powers a bit later.

 

[TTT]

I've been looking into South Africa's 'federalism'. It's very different. The provinces are quite weak in terms of the powers that have been allocated to them. I'll look into South Africa's division of powers a bit later.

Countries that use the style of Government SA uses i.e. a mix of the Westminister system plus Presidential system do not give provinces as much power as South Africa. Provinces do not have their own budgets outside of the state government. The DA runs Western Cape because they won the most votes there but in similar systems like in Botswana, Zambia , Zimbabwe and even Kenya I don't think you will find an opposition party running a province even if they win the most votes. The MDC in Zimbabwe could win up to 5 provinces but could never appoint a provincial minister or governor. They definitely don't have a provincial cabinet etc. The system is devolved far more than other countries have which use them for statistical and administrative reasons.

 

[Trajan]

Nigeria has a long coastline, but solely Lagos is being developed as its port to the world. Lagos' port today is choked with traffic and goods have difficulty moving from the port. Increasingly, people are going to Togo to smuggle goods into Nigeria. A sensible government would invest in capacity building at Warri, Port Harcourt and perhaps Calabar.

In Africa when shyt like this happens you normally get to the answer by questioning ''who benefits from the status quo''. Contrary to popular belief, many ridiculous actions of African govts are not due ignorance but perverse incentives. These people have degrees from prestigious unis in the West and often have trained economists advising them. They know good economic policy. They just put other things first like politics or personal enrichment.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

In Africa when shyt like this happens you normally get to the answer by questioning ''who benefits from the status quo''. Contrary to popular belief, many ridiculous actions of African govts are not due ignorance but perverse incentives. These people have degrees from prestigious unis in the West and often have trained economists advising them. They know good economic policy. They just put other things first like politics or personal enrichment.

IN the case I previously described, the Yoruba southwest benefits, if Lagos is the only major port, in the short run. All of Nigeria loses in the long run.

 

[thatrapsfan]

@Mansa Musa what is your ethnic group breh ?


Good article. Anecdotally, Lusaka was one of the most expensive places Ive ever lived and this helps explains why.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

@Mansa Musa what is your ethnic group breh ?


Good article. Anecdotally, Lusaka was one of the most expensive places Ive ever lived and this helps explains why.

I am Igbo. It is not bigoted to note that ethnicity bigotry plays a role in Nigeria's politics and economic policies

 

[Frangala]

In addition the vast rural to urban movement does not help and have a strain on the poor existing infrastructure in addition to population growth. Apparently Lagos is almost 3x the size of NYC without the decent infrastructure. This is madness. There was also an article detailing that basic internet access in some African countries (broadband) is $100+ per month. I''m assuming this extends to electricity when you talk about using diesel to run the generators.

Luanda (Angola) and Ndjamena (Chad) are up there as some of the most expensive cities in the world. Madness