2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance

The African Development Bank has made infrastructure development a cornerstone in its development agenda with regional member countries. The Bank recognizes that lack of adequate social and economic infrastructure is one of the key constraints to short- and medium-term poverty reduction in Africa, and has thus been a major force in private and public sector infrastructure development through the provision of financial and technical resources. At the same time, the Bank recognises the increasing importance of governance for infrastructure development and has made good governance an imperative in its lending and non-lending operations.
Africa’s lack of the basic infrastructure to facilitate sustainable development and trade – both regionally and globally – and to ensure competitiveness is already known. In particular, for the large number of landlocked countries, their access to markets is hampered by weak transport and energy infrastructure. While some countries have been able to implement individual projects to alleviate those difficulties, Africa does not have common strategic targets for infrastructure development.
Good governance is crucial for ensuring the effective and efficient provision of infrastructure. This is largely because, firstly, good governance means that resource allocations will reflect national developmental priorities and thus respond to societal demands. Secondly, good governance promotes accountability, reduces corruption and therefore minimises resource wastage through inefficiency. And finally, good governance ensures stability (economic and political) and reduces the level of risk associated with large and lumpy infrastructure investments. This in turn facilitates the mobilisation of both public and private sector financing resources that are critical for infrastructure development. However, governance is multidimensional, and the question of its definition and measurement is problematic. Against this background, this article examines the relationship between governance – based on the Ibrahim Index – and the quality of infrastructure in Africa.

Full report: http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/media/get/20101004_summary-report.pdf
                    http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index