The 2013 Africa Transport and Infrastructure Show brought rail, road, shipping and air experts together, to discuss ways of boosting the transport sector and its economic and social impact on the continent.
The 16th edition of the show, which ran in Johannesburg from 24 to 27 June, featured presentations, panel discussions, workshops and an exhibition aimed at helping to solve the challenges involved in growing Africa's transport network to a competitive level.
This year’s event featured some 100 exhibitors from as far afield as China and India, and delegates from Botswana Railways, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Central East African Railways, Rift Valley Railways, Nigerian Ports Authority, and more.
One of the event’s main goals, said organisers, was to empower attendees to be able to address “some of the most pertinent issues facing the industry in Africa today”, namely:
-Increasing skills development and a local engineering base to support what will one day become a first-world network.
-Creating bankable projects that are based on supply and demand and that will attract investors.
-Determining realistic time frames and support partners to best implement current and upcoming projects.
-The consensus was that investment and consistent attention to the condition of the continent’s transport network will reap the desired harvest of economic growth.
