Maravi

‘Comesa needs $45bn annually for infrastructure projects’

‘Comesa needs $45bn annually for infrastructure projects’
By Fridah Zinyama
Tue 08 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT

COMESA secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya has said the region needs about US$45 billion annually for both maintenance and capital expenditure on infrastructure projects.

And President Banda urged Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states that have not yet eliminated tariffs for Intra-COMESA trade to do so in the shortest possible time.

During the official opening of the 27th Council of Ministries meeting at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka yesterday, Ngwenya said member states were supposed to contribute about US$ 45 billion to finance infrastructure projects annually.

“It is expected that the COMESA Infrastructure Fund when operational will contribute to the mobilisation of funding for regional infrastructure projects,” he said.

Ngwenya said the regional bloc had received support from the Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank and the European Union to operationalise the COMESA Infrastructure Fund.

“We started 2009 on a positive note with the hosting by Mauritius of the COMESA Infrastructure Fund which we expect to be completed in the first quarter of 2010,” he said.

Ngwenya said the COMESA Infrastructure Fund provides an unprecedented opportunity for the region to consider innovative ways and means of financing infrastructure projects.

And President Banda, in a speech read on his behalf by finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane, said it was imperative that all member countries collectively commit to resolving the existing non-tariff barriers to the benefit of all.

“I would like to urge the member states that have not yet eliminated tariffs for Intra-COMESA trade to do so in the shortest possible time,” he said.

President Banda said with the progression from the Free Trade Area (FTA) to a Customs Union, member states should now place emphasis on internalising the COMESA market as an integral part of the Customs Union.

“This will allow us to effectively exploit the potential of many of our tradable products in the region such as tea, tobacco, sugarcane, rice, cement and copper, among many others,” he said.

President Banda said he had been informed that in 2008, Intra-COMESA trade had increased by 58 per cent compared to the 2007 figures.
“Similarly, on the global market, COMESA was able to achieve a 51 per cent increase in total trade in 2008 as compared to the previous year,” he said.

President Banda added that COMESA faced a lot of challenges of electronic and physical infrastructure in the COMESA region.

“In terms of road network and telecommunications, border clearing procedures and warehousing for example, the region has either several missing links that hamper effective trade, or poor links that are not able to handle the large volumes of trade transactions,” said President Banda.

Labels: COMESA, INFRASTRUCTURE

posted by MrK @ 5:10 AM