SOUTH SUDAN’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE South Sudan’s infrastructure situation become manageable. This makes it absolutely critical to adopt sound principles for the prioritization of many competing infrastructure needs.

South Sudan already spends approximately $450 million per year on infrastructure, equivalent to about 7.5 percent of GDP. A further $36 million a year l is wasted due to inefficiencies. This makes that the country’s annual infrastructure funding gap amounts to $879 million per year, or roughly 15 percent of GDP. The largest funding gap—equivalent to 40 percent of South Sudan’s needs—is in the water and sanitation sector. Transport comes a close second, with its needs representing 35 percent of the total. Power is in third place, but has significant requirements. South Sudan can build on potential inflows of financing from China and the private sector, particularly in the power sector, to close these gaps. But the ongoing instability in the country may deter investors. Meanwhile, adopting lower-cost technologies can help the country develop a strong infrastructure backbone and pave the way for growth and productivity in the near future. Finally, if all else fails, it may be necessary to realistically extend the time horizon for meeting the infrastructure targets beyond the illustrative period of 10 years considered here. In the case of South Sudan, the total amount of the cost of inefficiencies is low relative to the economy, since the actual provision of services is almost nonexistent. Addressing inefficiencies will not only result in modest gains in the short run but will be vital to creating solid institutions for attracting new investors and getting the biggest bang for their buck in coming years.

# The continental perspective

The Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) has gathered and analyzed extensive data on infrastructure in more than 40 Sub-Saharan countries, including all parts of Sudan. The results have been presented in reports covering different areas of infrastructure—ICT, irrigation, power, transport, and water and sanitation—and different policy areas, including investment needs, fiscal costs, and sector performance.

This report presents the key AICD findings for South Sudan, allowing the country’s infrastructure situation to be benchmarked against that of its African peers. South Sudan is a newly independent country, affected by conflict, endowed with oil, but poor in terms of infrastructure and economic development. Because of these factors, both low-income, fragile states and resource-rich benchmarks will be used to evaluate its performance. Detailed comparisons will also be made with immediate regional neighbors in the East African Community (EAC).

Several methodological issues should be borne in mind. First, because of the cross-country nature of the data collection, a time lag is inevitable. The period covered by the AICD runs from 2001 to 2006. Most technical data presented are for 2006–07 (or the most recent year available), while financial data are typically averaged over the available period to smooth out the effect of short-term fluctuations. Second, to make comparisons across countries, the indicators and analysis were standardized so that everything was done on a consistent basis. This means that some of the indicators presented here may be slightly different from those that are routinely reported and discussed at the country level. Third, in terms of nomenclature, _all parts of Sudan_ refers to Sudan prior to the split of the country, _Sudan_ refers to the northern part of Sudan, and _South Sudan_ refers to the newly independent country. Fourth, data for Sudan and South Sudan 2