Posts

Improved Infrastructure in Ethiopia On the Horizon

infrastructure in EthiopiaEthiopia is home to Africa’s second largest population and is the oldest independent country on the continent. The surface and transport infrastructure in Ethiopia are particularly poor and underdeveloped, demonstrated by the fact that the country has the lowest road density in the world and only 13.3 percent of all roads have been paved.

Road infrastructure in Ethiopia is of particular importance, as the country is five times as large as the United Kingdom. There has been a massive increase in the allocation of funds for road construction, with the state spending on roads accounting for a quarter of each year’s infrastructure budget.

Unlike their surface infrastructure, Ethiopia features new and upgraded airports which facilitate the transport of goods and encourage greater investment. There are two international airports, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, both of which have seen an increase in passenger and freight transport over the last several years. To encourage tourism, five major airports were selected to be upgraded, with the opening of the Arba Minch airport leading to a wide range of economic opportunities for the south of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has continued to focus its economic policies on the development of new and improved infrastructure by planning to allocate $89 million on infrastructure spending. This has continued the trend of upgrading the national road network, following previous commitments to improve road connections to Kenya and South Sudan.

Improving the road network in Ethiopia is essential, as it will make it easier for farmers to transport their produce to bigger markets, and it supports the growth of the sugar industry in south Ethiopia. The government has hopes that with improvement to the road network, Ethiopia will be able to develop coal mines in the region, allowing the nation to supply cement producers and bolstering the economy.

-Drew Fox

Photo: Flickr

, ,

5 Development Projects in Angola

development projects in AngolaAngola has an extremely diverse population of approximately 29 million people. It is a developing country with over 40 percent of its population living beneath the poverty line. There are various projects underway to develop the country. Here are 5 development projects in Angola.

  1. Institutional and Sustainability support to Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Service Delivery. Fifty percent of the population does not have access to clean water and sanitation facilities. This program would finance 5 Provincial Water and Sanitation Utilities in order to increase sanitation, increase water connections and promote hygiene.
  2. Local development project. According to the World Bank, the purpose of this project is to improve access of poor households to basic services and economic opportunities and to enhance local institutional capacities among Angola’s municipalities.
  3. Smallholder Agriculture Development and Commercialization Project. This project would increase smallholder agriculture productivity, production and marketing for selected crops in the project areas. This is beneficial since 10 percent of the population works in agriculture. Smallholder agriculture is key to food security in the region.
  4. Fisheries sector support project. The project will result in an increase of income from artisanal fishery and fishery-related activities, like fishing, processing, marketing, servicing and trade, according to African Development Bank. Since one of the agricultural products Angola is known for is fish, this is an exceptional development project in Angola.
  5. The Lauca Dam. The Lauca Dam is one of the largest projects underway in Africa. The dam will greatly affect Angola’s economy as it will provide access to more reliable energy and has provided jobs to 8,000 workers.

Due to the creation of these projects, Angola is moving forward and sparking development within the country. Angola is usually dependent on its oil, but as demand for oil changes so too does Angola’s market. With these development projects in Angola, the country can decrease the poverty faced by citizens.

– Dezanii Lewis

Photo: Flickr

Lower Mekong Initiative Launches New Infrastructure Plan

Lower Mekong InitiativeThe Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), established in July 2009, expanded its original focus to include a Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership in response to this year’s historic drought that devastated the Mekong region. With support from the U.S., the new partnership aims to promote economic development, environmental conservation, and climate resilience.

Through LMI, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the U.S. collaborated to create sub-regional cooperation that fosters economic growth and aims to narrow the development gap between the Lower Mekong countries.

At this year’s annual meeting, LMI designed the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership, a training platform with two main goals: to help LMI countries identify training deficiencies in infrastructure planning and to develop a strategy to enhance the planning process and improve efficiency. This new partnership comes as a result of a crippling drought in the Lower Mekong. The region produces 13 percent of the world’s rice, centering its economic stability on agriculture. However, the current Mekong River levels are at their lowest point of the past century, putting millions of farmers that depend on this water source at risk.

The Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership aims to lessen the region’s vulnerability to climate change and strengthen its infrastructure. This new element adds to the existing six pillars of LMI: agriculture and food security, connectivity, education, energy security, environment and water, as well as health. The success of LMI can be attributed to the targeted approaches of each pillar’s program.

The Lower Mekong Initiative fosters agriculture and food security by expanding trade and investment in the region. Encouraging community engagement in the industry is also key. Similarly, the connectivity pillar draws upon U.S. strengths to promote physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity across the region.

The education pillar encourages the sharing of best practices between countries; supporting programs that encourage English language proficiency and teacher training. LMI health pillar combats transnational challenges, such as infectious diseases, as well as supporting the enforcement of International Health Regulations.

Both the Energy Security and Environment and Water Programs work to develop a regional strategy to create sustainable environmental management and access to energy.

The U.S. has played a central role in the success of LMI, having founded a U.S.-Singapore Third Country Program that has trained regional officials on cybercrime and water management. The U.S. has also helped Cambodia launch a women’s business center, with plans to launch another in Vietnam this year.

Through the Lower Mekong Initiative, the region has seen growth in several sectors. The adoption of the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership will further benefit Lower Mekong countries, continuing to narrow the development gap across the region.

– Anna O’Toole

Photo: Pixabay