To take the economy to the next level, Botswana needs to renew its commitment to investing in infrastructure.
It would be disingenuous to say Botswana has done nothing to develop infrastructure.
But there is still a lot to be done.
A new generation of infrastructure is now clearly needed.
If as a country we cannot raise money to build that infrastructure, we stand to lose that which we already have in place.
And by the time we get money, it will be costlier to start again.
We also need to change our economic model, as a country.
By far most of the much talked about past GDP growths were a function of high diamond earning and not much else.
Botswana’s economic model has always been a flawed one, chiefly because it allowed over-reliance on one commodity, diamonds to gain foreign reserves and then use that cash to purchase everything else.
And with a slump in world diamonds sales, the defects of that model were exposed.
Already there are clear signs that if Botswana is going to compete regionally and indeed internationally, there is going to be a need to make massive investments infrastructure.
Top of this infrastructure has to be the internet.
But also rail.
It is embarrassing that the only rail line of note that this country has was constructed by a British industrialist, Cecil John Rhodes in the 1800s.
Notwithstanding the billions derived from diamonds over the years, it has not fallen to any Government to realize that rail line construction would be for a long time, perhaps the only long-term solution to Botswana’s difficulties not only to grow trade but also attract foreign investment.
It’s been ten years that the current Government has been talking about a rail line linking Botswana to the Indian Ocean in the East, and the Atlantic to the west.
To date, nothing has happened.
Yet for trade to grow, Botswana needs an efficient and competitive transport network, linking the country to the seaports.
Underinvestment in infrastructure, together with capital misallocation are just some of the many factors that have seen the country lag behind.
Unlike in many other African countries, shortage of money was never really such a big issue.
The days of a diamond boom are truly behind us as are the days of the economy being driven for a long stretch by any other commodity.
Any attempt to grope for such old days will leave this country as badly exposed as it was in 2008 ÔÇô or worse.
A healthy and world class infrastructure goes a long way in creating the much needed confidence among foreign investors that the country means business.
Rwanda, a latecomer is proof of just that.
Many countries in Asia have been able to lift their people from poverty without access to any commodity.
Productivity and investment in infrastructure were used as the backbone.
That is what we should be doing as Botswana as we attempt to retreat from an economy that is addicted to diamonds.
Of course that is easier said than done.
What is needed is it is to be achieved is to draw a plan, based on an audit of the country’s infrastructure needs. And then determining if the profits to be made from such infrastructure costs are worth the investments.
