GOVERNANCE OF AFRICA’S REGIONAL TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMMES: INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (Paper 903)

This paper assesses the value addition of institutional arrangements created to manage Africa’s regional transport infrastructure programmes and the extent to which they are equipped to meet the challenges to the implementation of these programmes. Specifically, it examines the extent to which existing institutional arrangements act as delivery platforms and mobilise funds for regional projects and explores their performance in galvanising partnerships for project implementation. The analysis in the paper is a synthesis of empirical findings from case studies of selected regional and sub-regional transport infrastructure programmes in Africa, including the Trans-African Highways Programme, the North-South Corridor Programme in Southern and Eastern Africa and the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Programme in West Africa. The paper shows that African regional and sub-regional infrastructure programmes are generally being implemented in an uncontrolled environment with actors at the regional level having little or no authority over those at the national level. In essence, the interface between decision-making and implementation structures at regional and national levels is weak and vague. The paper concludes that efforts to enhance the performance of regional projects should concentrate on clarifying and strengthening the interface between regional decision-making and implementation structures and national ones.