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RE: African infrastructure development - a nutcracker suite (Part 1 of I'm not sure how many yet)

in #africa7 years ago

I hear you, @beantownboy, but I think we have to acknowledge there are some kinds of infrastructure which the private sector just doesn't have the means and wherewithal to develop, and yet it's still important to a functioning society. Both enabling and social infrastructure can be provided by the private sector where there's a business case, but sometimes there just isn't a business case - do we let those people go without? In the power sector, where I know you're strong, there are good opportunities for business to create viable, sustainable solutions. Similarly in ICT, as we've seen from the explosive penetration of mobile phones into, well, everywhere. I'm not convinced the transport and water sectors hold such great opportunities, particularly in rural areas; same with rural electricity, but I do think that energy services could become viable with innovations such as crypto-based payment mechanisms...so I'm open to persuasion :-).