SOFRECO (2011) states that a 6% growth rate for Africa is above recent performance (the AfDB
projects a growth rate of 5.2% for Africa in 2011), and implies that in 30 years time, the GDP of
African countries will on average be multiplied six fold. The requirements for additional infrastructure
will be of the same magnitude and sometimes larger (for instance in power).
Water resources significantly vary in distribution, availability and usage across the SADC region.
There will be need for inter‐basin water transfers, primarily from the north of the SADC region to the
drier south and west. There is an estimated total of 2 300 km3/year of renewable water resources
available. The current level of abstraction is only 44 km3/year or 170 m3/capita/year. At the estimated
population growth rate of 2.1% and at current water usage rates, the abstraction will increase to a
mere 60 km3/year by 2027.
It is expected that agriculture will continue to be the biggest user, abstracting at the current average
rate of 77% of the renewable water resource, followed by domestic purposes (18%) and industry
(5%). Figure 2.6 illustrates the water use in the SADC region by these three main sectors.
If the storage of Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams is excluded, only 4% of the total annual renewable
water resources in the SADC region are currently stored. If the storage of Kariba and Cahora Bassa
dams is included, 14% of the total annual renewable water resources in the SADC region are
currently stored. The surface water storage ratio will have to increase to at least 25% (inclusive of
Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams) of the total annual renewable water resource of the SADC region for
the region to match the demands for economic growth, meeting the MDG targets and the SADC
agenda of regional integration, poverty eradication and economic development.
2.4
Assessment of Gap between Current Situation and 2027 Requirements
The main challenges of the Water Sector in Africa remain the low development and use of the
potential water resources due to the deficiency of water infrastructure, the critically deficient
agricultural water management, the missing water services and institutional platforms, the
inadequate access to markets, the lack of financing and capacity of institutions, and the weak
government budgetary commitments. These issues are detrimental to a sector that is otherwise in a
unique position to reduce exposure to food crisis and to deliver pro‐poor growth among rural
households (Bahri 2011). This summary of the challenges of Africa is relevant and applies to the SADC
region as a whole. These challenges will help in the identification of the actions required to mitigate
them.
There has been very minimal investment in large hydraulic infrastructure in the past 15 years in the
SADC region. Table 2.2 shows some selected large hydraulic infrastructure of the SADC region built at
least 15 years ago, while Figure 2.7 gives the number of large dams in each SADC Member State.
Some of the main challenges resulting in this lack of water infrastructure investment in the SADC
region can be summarised as follows:
Climate resilient water projects, be they for hydropower generation, agriculture or flood and
drought mitigation, are usually large in size and thus need long lead times for their planning
and execution, which requires staying power in governments and implementing institutions to
see them through;
The charging of non‐cost‐reflective water tariffs from existing water infrastructure results in
very low revenue streams for maintenance and new investments;
The availability of funds to finance climate resilient water infrastructure;
Lack of water sector reforms to promote, attract and retain private sector investments;
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