State-owned enterprise Transnet and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Business Foundation (NBF) on Tuesday launched the Africa Infrastructure Desk (Afri-ID) research, linkage and relationship platform, in Johannesburg.

The platform is expected to have a meaningful impact on spatial development and regional integration in the Southern African Development Community and the North–South Corridor.

It is aimed at contributing to the development of investment and commercial opportunities for participating member companies, to facilitate coordination to pursue and implement projects, provide information on developments in infrastructure and promote engagement between the public and private sectors.

Transnet spokesperson Mboniso Sigonyela said adequate infrastructure continued to be Africa’s missing link to developing investment and integrated intra-African regional trade, which currently stood at less than 10% of trade.

He noted that Africa’s infrastructure projects had not been financed or implemented quickly enough, as a lack of information, inconsistent cross-border policy and poor project bankability had limited commercial and investment interest in infrastructure.

To tackle these issues, Transnet and other blue-chip companies have partnered with the NBF to establish the Afri-ID.

NBF CEO Lynette Chen said the Afri-ID would enable companies to access, collaborate on and implement infrastructure project opportunities across Africa.

“Through Nepad, access to public and private sectors will be managed on the basis of political and regulatory certainty through strong alignment with Nepad’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa. Transnet and the NBF’s partnership reflects the potential [impact] that the private and public sectors could have on harnessing resources and skills to tackle the huge infrastructure deficit, while ensuring local empowerment,” she stated.

“We envision an Africa without borders; an Africa that is seamlessly linked from Cape to Cairo by efficient infrastructure. But to achieve this vision, closer collaboration, partnership and coordination between all stakeholders, including government and the private sector are required. We, therefore, decided to support and fund the Afri-ID…to ensure that there is a high level of coordination between stakeholders to ensure implementation takes place,” Transnet CEO Brian Molefe said.