Publication: Cape Verde’s Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective
Date
2011-06-01
ISSN
Published
2011-06-01
Author(s)
Briceno-Garmendia, Cecilia M.
Benitez, Daniel Alberto
Abstract
Cape Verde stands out in West Africa as
a country whose economic geography poses major and unique
challenges for infrastructure development. Its small
population of half a million people is spread across a
nine-island archipelago. The islands need complementary
infrastructure in terms of roads, water, transport, ports,
power, and ICT. Cape Verde already has well-developed
infrastructure networks. Road density is relatively high,
and most of the national network is paved. Almost all
islands have port and airport facilities. Around 70 percent
of the population has power and utility water. Indicators
for ICT coverage -- penetration, bandwidth, submarine cable,
private sector participation -- are relatively good.
Nevertheless, prices for all services are exceptionally
high. The quality of services is often deficient. At least
half of the national road network is in poor condition;
power supply is unreliable; and half of the population
receives water from standposts. Cape Verde devotes around
$147 million per year to infrastructure (almost 15 percent
of GDP), among the highest levels of infrastructure spending
on the continent. Some $50 million of that is lost each year
to operations inefficiencies and underpricing. The
country's main challenges are to improve infrastructure
management and reduce high costs of services.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Briceno-Garmendia, Cecilia M.; Benitez, Daniel Alberto. 2011. Cape Verde’s Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective. Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5687. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3451 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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