Lusaka: Africa's largest trading bloc says the continent requires about 93 billion U.S. dollars annually to raise infrastructure endowment to a reasonable level within the next decade, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Wednesday. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, which has 19 member states, said from the total of amount of money required, two thirds needed to be spent on capital development, rehabilitation and the remainder on maintenance, the Daily Mail said.
Sindiso Ngwenya, the organization's secretary-general, said the continent could save 17 billion dollars through improving efficient use of existing infrastructure although this still left a funding gap of 31 billion dollars.
The official, who was speaking at a tripartite meeting of three regional groups namely COMESA, Eastern Africa Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community in Lusaka, said however that it was encouraging that governments were championing infrastructure projects in a "prioritized manner".
Under the North-South Corridor Aid for Trade program, a project driven by the tripartite initiative, projects in various sectors have been prepared as funding documents, according to the Daily Mail.
