Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform in Sub‐Saharan Africa: The Case of Air Transport

Abstract

This paper analyses the main policy issues raised by regulatory reform in air transport in sub-Saharan Africa. Its basic premise is that improving ait infrastructure is of paramount importance for the region as it tries to integrate more thoroughly into the world economy. On the basis of the experience of OECD countries with privatisation, liberalisation, and regulatory design, the author analyses progress being made in sub-Saharan Africa and identifies three important case studies: the restructuring of the regional airline of Francophone Western Africa, the sell-off of the state-owned airline of Kenya, and the overall reform process in South Africa, by far the largest market in the sub-continent. The analysis highlights the importance of regional dynamics in the upgrading of the air transport industry in developing and emerging areas. Sub-Saharan Africa has made smaller progress in this respect than, for instance, Central America. As the start of the Millennium Round and the first WTO air transport review approach, these issues will gain policy priority for all countries, and may become powerful bargaining tools for non-OECD countries to press for more open access into OECD markets for the South's traditional exports. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.

Obstacles to Expanding Intra-African Trade

“…Unfortunately, up to now the record of such projects is inauspicious (e.g. Goldstein, 2001 in the case of air transport).…”

Is air transport an effective tool for sustainable development?

“…Air transport is thus regarded as an important tool for economic and social development (see also Goldstein, 2001;Miller and Clarke, 2007;Raguraman, 1995;Rhoades, 2004); but the extent to which it actually serves this purpose is unclear, especially given that relevant, specifi c criteria, targets and performance indicators have not previously been defi ned. In Table 1, some criteria are presented that could potentially be used to assess the extent to which air transport is an effective tool for sustainable development.…”

Regional Integration in West Africa

“…An example is the Abidjan-Ouagadougou railway line. While Air Afrique may be considered a unique experience in sub-regional co-operation insofar as it has operated for four decades despite heavy losses, the fact that many of the partners have also set up their own national airlines is testimony to the fact that countries like to go solo, whenever possible (Goldstein, 1999). A recent large-scale sub-regional project is the 960-km West African Gas Pipeline resulting from a World Bank study on optimal ways of using Nigeria's flared gas resources to generate power for domestic and industrial usage.…”

“…The best example is the transformation of the Abidjan stock exchange into a regional exchange with trading floors in other Francophone countries -and one which even authorities in a non-Francophone country like Ghana have seriously considered joining (Aryeetey, 1998). Similarly, the interest in and expected benefits from initiatives to provide air transportation on a regional basis remain quite high, despite the problems encountered by Air Afrique, a regional airline of the Francophone countries (Goldstein, 1999). There have indeed been serious discussions about the establishment of another sub-regional airline with Nigeria and Ghana as the major interested parties 2 .…”