"While successive government budgets have included significant funding for infrastructure development, there have been deficiencies in implementation, which include projects not being carried out timely, poor construction and, therefore, inferior quality, as well as the abandonment of projects," the report states.
This has been due to deficiencies in project monitoring and management and inadequacies of contractors. The report calls for involvement of the private sector as owners and managers of the infrastructure and not only as contractors.
"Among the various formulae are Public Private Partnerships (PPP), where the private sector takes initiative and participates in the provision of infrastructure and counterpart funding for major projects; a good example is the construction of toll roads in some countries," the report states. It further states that given long-term benefits and incentives provided by government the private sector is willing to participate. "Another aspect of economic liberalization to improve efficiency and delivery of services is privatization, especially to reduce relative costs and speed up the modernization of infrastructure," the report states.
It says that a joint study by the Botswana Institute of Development and Policy Analysis (BIDPA) and the World Bank has noted that air travel costs are generally high in Botswana, and this has negative impact on tourism as well as exports of business and financial services which often involves cross-country traveling by consultants and experts.
"This puts into perspective the need for the privatization of Air Botswana to proceed as quickly as possible as well as the implementation of further measures, including deregulation, to further reduce the cost of air transport," the report continues.
Excessive regulation of the telecommunications services has also held back development of the sector and this has added to exorbitant costs and consequently hampering businesses to conduct operations efficiently and competitively.
The report calls for the liberalization of the telecommunications industry to promote efficiency gains and better and cheap services.
"This is particularly crucial for the country's ambitions to develop in several areas, including financial services, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), science and technology, as well as the logistics of production and distribution," the BoB reports.
The country can also benefit from the construction of Kazungula Bridge which is expected to promote regional integration in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region that will link Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia by easing transport constraints and improving trade links among the countries.
Furthermore the leasing of Walvis Bay Port in Namibia is expected to enable Botswana to export and import goods quicker and cheaper from abroad through the Namibian seaport.
