2011年-世界发展银行全球_Sudan_Infrastructure___A_Continental_Perspective_58页_2mb

Sudan's Infrastructure: A Continental Perspective Summary

Core Content

This document provides an in-depth analysis of Sudan's infrastructure development and challenges, placing them within the broader context of African infrastructure. It is part of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project aimed at assessing infrastructure performance and identifying financing and efficiency gaps across Sub-Saharan Africa. The report highlights Sudan's progress and remaining challenges in key infrastructure sectors, including transport, energy, water and sanitation, and information and communication technology (ICT).

Main Sectors and Performance

Transport

• Roads: Sudan's road network has almost doubled in length between 2000 and 2008, reaching 6,200 km. However, road density is among the lowest in Africa, and rural connectivity remains virtually nonexistent. Poor road quality and high unpaved road volumes severely impact transport efficiency, especially during the rainy season.
• Ports: Port Sudan has seen increased traffic and revenue, with efforts to upgrade infrastructure. However, it faces significant congestion and high handling costs, which hinder its performance.
• Air Transport: Sudan has a strong international gateway with good connectivity to the Middle East, Europe, and Ethiopia. Per capita seats are higher than neighboring countries. Challenges include improving air safety standards and increasing government oversight.
• Surface Transport: Sudan has competitive freight tariffs due to a developed trucking industry and lower petroleum prices. However, cross-border connectivity is limited, and freight movement remains costly and slow.

Energy

• Power Infrastructure: Installed capacity in Sudan tripled between 2005 and 2009, with a shift toward hydropower. However, electricity supply is unreliable, and the power sector suffers from underpricing and significant system losses.
• Challenges: Improving reliability, quality, and volume of electricity supply; achieving cost recovery through appropriate pricing; and reducing system losses.

Water and Sanitation

• Access: Most of Sudan lacks access to safe water and improved sanitation. Only 40% of the population uses improved sanitation technologies, while around 40% defecates in the open.
• Challenges: Boosting access to improved water and sanitation sources; reducing open defecation; improving the efficiency of water utilities through better revenue collection and cost recovery.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

• Achievements: Sudan has made significant strides in ICT liberalization, with mobile penetration increasing from less than 1% in 2000 to 33% in 2009. It has a strong multinational presence and is well connected to undersea fiber-optic cables.
• Challenges: Expanding Internet bandwidth and increasing landline penetration.

Key Financial and Efficiency Issues

• Annual Funding Gap: Sudan faces an annual infrastructure funding gap of $2.9 billion, equivalent to almost 14% of GDP. This gap is primarily in the water and transport sectors, each of which is over $1 billion short of required resources.
• Inefficiencies: Over $580 million per year is lost due to inefficiencies, mostly from the power sector. These inefficiencies include underpricing of services and high distribution losses, which cost around $378 million annually in losses.
• Private Investment: Private investment accounts for 23% of Sudan's infrastructure spending, while Chinese investment makes up 40% of total investment finance. Official development assistance (ODA) is negligible.
• Capital Spending: Sudan's capital spending is heavily skewed toward the power sector, with minimal focus on transport and water.

Potential for Growth and Improvement

• Infrastructure's Impact on Growth: Improvements in infrastructure have contributed significantly to Sudan's per capita growth, adding 1.7 percentage points. If Sudan's infrastructure were to reach the level of Mauritius, it could boost annual growth by about 3.5 percentage points.
• ICT's Role: The ICT sector has been the most impactful for growth, with a strong contribution from mobile penetration and improved connectivity.
• Future Prospects: Sudan has the potential to become a major hydropower exporter if additional capacity is developed and transmission links with neighboring Nile Basin countries are strengthened.

Conclusion

Sudan's infrastructure development has been uneven, with significant progress in ICT and power, but major challenges in transport and water. The country needs to increase infrastructure spending to about 20% of GDP over the next decade, which is equivalent to an annual funding requirement of $4.2 billion. Achieving this will require a combination of public and private investment, as well as improvements in efficiency and cost recovery. The report underscores the importance of infrastructure for economic growth and development, and highlights the need for strategic reforms and increased financing to address the current gaps.