Power shortage

The Africa Development Bank has projected that the continent will grow at 5.8 percent in 2012. That is an extravagant projection given the recurring droughts and erratic rainfall patterns. Droughts and rainfall have an effect on hydropower generation, and that has an effect on production.

According to a World Bank study, "Africa's Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation," electricity is top of the list of things that slow down the continent's growth.

"More than 30 African countries experience power shortages and regular interruptions to their service. The underlying causes vary: failures to bring on new capacity to keep pace with the demands of economic growth, droughts that reduced hydropower in East Africa, oil price hikes that inhibited affordability of diesel imports for many West African countries, and conflicts that destroyed power infrastructure in fragile states," noted the study.

According to the World Bank's study carried out in 2010, the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries with 800 million people generate the same electrical output as Spain with 45 million people does.

"Power consumption, at 124 kwh per capita annually and dropping, is only 10 percent of that found elsewhere in the developing world, barely enough to power one 100-watt light bulb per person for 3 hours a day," said the World Bank report.

The remedy for this is to pump in money toward infrastructure. The report said the continent has to invest $93 billion in infrastructure every year to achieve industrialized status. The priorities right now are roads and power. The continent needs to generate 7,000 MW of electricity every year. It also has to rollout regional power trade through high-voltage transmission lines.

Roads and railways are equally essential. They need to pass through the fertile agricultural land so that the produce gets out and reaches the markets or the factories. The roads must be all-season, so that they are not rendered impassable in the rainy season.

The land under irrigation also needs to be expanded, because food security, like energy, should be a priority for the continent. The wisdom is that hungry people are not productive.