Dakar, Senegal, 30 November 2022 - Over the next decade, Africa needs an annual investment of up to USD 170 billion for long-lived infrastructure (such as roads, dams, irrigation systems, and power stations) to close the vast infrastructure services deficit on the continent.
At the same time, failure to integrate climate change in the planning and design of power and water infrastructure could, in the driest climate scenarios, result in up to 60 percent loss of hydropower production potential in river basins such as the Zambezi. Thus, increasing consumer expenditure for energy up to three times the corresponding baseline values.
A joint World Bank and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) study indicates that climate change could lead to a shortening of roads' rehabilitation life cycles, resulting in steep increases in maintenance and periodic rehabilitation costs.
In the worst climate scenarios, precipitation's stress on the roads can make rehabilitation costs 10 times higher (compared to historical climate conditions). Also, the pressure imposed by flooding can lead to a 17-fold increase.
