The World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE) Africa Regional Summit has advocated for a well-defined infrastructure programmes and bankable investments in the sub-region.
This they said was to advance sustainable development in the region.
This is contained in a communiqué released to newsmen on Saturday at the just concluded 1st African Regional Summit of WCCE held from Aug. 10-11 in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit was initiated by the African Representative at the World Council of Civil Engineers, Dr Aishatu Umar.
The summit had a host of leaders in the civil engineering profession to examine the region’s infrastructure deficits and its challenge to development, as well as the potential solutions and strategies to address the gap.
It, therefore, proffered an 11 point communique to address infrastructure gap which included that In-house human and material resources in South-Saharan Africa should be used for development.
“Civil Engineers must be used to develop Africa, bearing in mind that the four drivers of development are: Infrastructure, Investment, Innovation, and Inclusion.
“Advocacy for Civil Engineering as a Profession is necessary to train more engineers to take over from the present generation of professionals. It is also necessary for Engineers to practice as partners and consortiums.
“Infrastructure deficit is militating against Africa’s economic growth with Power as the major infrastructure challenge. If half of the 1.1 billion population of the Sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity/energy, then a lot more is required.
“There is need for well-defined infrastructure programmes and bankable investments, hence government institutions need to be strengthened.
“The Public Private Partnership financing options for Sub-Saharan Africa should be tailored to meeting our peculiarities.
The communiqué added that other financing options were concessions, loans from Multilateral Agencies like World Bank, African Development Bank, International Finance Corporations, Bilateral Agencies like GIZ, USAID etc, revenue and local infrastructure bonds.
They also resolved that the use of technology was imperative for faster and effective infrastructure development.
“Such technologies include Augmented Reality, Autocad, Cloud Technology, Drone Mapping, Internet of Things, etc.”
The communiqué added that massive investments in infrastructural projects were needed in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It further said that apart from safety and serviceability, climate change impacts considerations must be evaluated on infrastructure project development.
“Civil Engineers must take advantage of the opportunities created by climate change, such as carbon accounting and lowering of greenhouse gas emissions in construction.
“There is the need for Sub-Saharan African countries to vigorously pursue the African Union Agenda 2063 for sustainable infrastructure development.
“There should be investment in continuous education and research and development in the field of civil engineering for sustainable infrastructure growth and development,” the communiqué read.
The communiqué was jointly signed by Dr Aishatu Umar, Regional Representative WCCE and Dr James Owivry, Chairman, WCCE Summit Planning Committee.
NAN reports that the summit’s theme was ‘Promoting Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roles, Prospects, Challenges and Solutions.’
