Put side by side many countries in Africa, Botswana compares favourably when it comes to infrastructure development.
This is mainly because deliberate efforts have over the years been taken to appropriate a greater share of the national development budget towards infrastructure development.
This has been commendable and it clears has paid off.
Our roads, even as we complain endless about their state are easily among the best in Africa.
An elaborate infrastructure has the potential to unlock the country’s economic potential.
The World Bank estimates that close to 75% of Africa’s potential remains locked and stifled by lack of a developed infrastructure.
Until such infrastructure is erected, the continent will not realize its optimal economic development.
This infrastructure includes roads, railways, bridges, dams, airports and increasingly modern telecommunication platforms that support ICT.
Going forward, as a country we need to continue investing in new infrastructure while also renewing old ones.
This is important if we are to put the country on a better pedestal for future development and economic competitiveness.
An elaborately developed network of roads helps ease the costs of doing business locally while also facilitating and attracting international volumes.
Evidence shows that there is no shortcut to economic development without infrastructure to support.
The same evidence also shows that infrastructure development is just as important as human resource development.
One key area that Botswana should concentrate on is that of developing an internet infrastructure.
Thankfully, there are already signs that Botswana Government is investing handsomely on that regard.
Increasingly, economies across the world are being driven by sectors that are supported by internet.
Without such internet, there is proof, as is the case across most of Africa that internet costs are too high and prohibitive.
Where such infrastructure exists, it is too expensive and unaffordable.
The last few years have, owing to difficult economic climate stifled investments in new infrastructure development.
Investments in renewing existing ones have also fallen behind.
If this is not corrected, it will inevitably catch with the country and prove counterproductive.
As we speak, Botswana is going through a terrible drought which has seen water levels across the country drawn down to dangerously low levels. This is already affecting development as water scarcity means that it has become much more expensive.
Had the country prepared for this eventuality by developing a thorough infrastructure to carry water from where it is abundant to where it is needed most, such inconveniences could be averted.
We also note that the development of a bridge at Kazungula linking Botswana to Zambia and Zimbabwe has taken much longer than could have been expected.
Botswana Government is not to blame for the delays.
But that does not mean Botswana based businesses are escaping the side effects.
This has meant that by the time it is completed such a bridge will be much more expensive.
This is over and above high costs of operating a pontoon which as anybody doing business across the Zambezi would attest is unreliable.
