Chairperson and chief executive of Investment Fund Africa (IFA), Neil de Beer – said that Africa does not have a money problem but a planning problem. Highlighting this on the eve of Africa Day, he referred to many hiccups in the Africa growth story. Infrastructure bottlenecks is high in the pecking order. Africa was in a $1.3 trillion infrastructure annual deficit., he asserted in his interview to a media house. Africa’s population of about 1.3 billion will peak to 4 billion by 2100. That means the continent will have to feed four times more people by 2100. Is there any plan to increase food production to that extent? There are projects in the pipe line and some of them are getting implemented. But the requirements are huge and scary. In the same breadth, he says that Africa’s biggest problem is not the money, nor talent but an inherent pull back to plan properly with well marked targets and time frame. Yet, Africa, he says, has to solve the problem on its own. The continent as is capable of doing that. That is not to say international partnership is a taboo. One has to move parallel manner harnessing the strengths in all directions. Leaving everything to the government is like washing the hands off. All partners in progress should remain committed to the development process. Endowed with flexibility and capacity to take decisions without being caught up the bureaucratic red-tape, private enterprises can play a pivotal role in catalyzing forces of growth
