BURKINA FASO’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE that it is concentrated in just a few geographic clusters, should be considered while provisioning for services for the next 50 years and designing the country’s backbone infrastructure. Another key element, not less relevant, is Burkina’s landlocked condition, which makes it highly dependent on its neighbors for transit and trade and thus highly exposed to any political instability.

It should not come as a surprise, given its geography and demography, that Burkina’s infrastructure networks are anchored by the area of highest population density—Ouagadougou and its surroundings— and expand along radiuses that begin in Ouagadougou and travel to the capital cities of the neighboring countries. For the most part, the road and the ICT transmission networks have good regional connectivity and quality (figures 4a and 4c). In contrast, the power transmission network is still composed of two disjointed lines: one connecting Boukiende to the southeast of the country and another connecting Houet to the extreme southwest of the country (figure 4b).

This report begins by reviewing the main achievements and challenges in each of Burkina Faso’s major infrastructure sectors, with the key findings summarized in table 1. Thereafter, attention will turn to the problem of how to finance Burkina Faso’s outstanding infrastructure needs.

**Table 1. Achievements and challenges in Burkina Faso’s infrastructure sectors**

||**Achievements**|**Challenges**|
|---|---|---|
|Air transport|Aircraft fleet renewed rapidly in recent years and<br>aircraft size aligned to a hub-and-spoke approach.|Market thin and underdeveloped.<br>Very concentrated market with very little competition.<br>Safety and security remain concerns.<br>Airport facilities are in disarray.|
|ICT|Adoption of ICT promotion policy and sectoral<br>strategy.<br>Liberalization and deregulation of the sector.<br>Increased GSM signal coverage.<br>Low level of market power concentration.|Prices remain high.<br>Promote competition at the international gateways to SAT-<br>3/WASC.|
|Power|Inception of new electricity law encouraging private<br>sector participation.<br>Promotion of increased power trade and<br>interconnection to WAPP.|Limited electrification.<br>Supply of power insufficient to satisfy demand.<br>Costs are among the highest in Africa.|
|Railways|Good labor productivity, solid traffic volumes, and<br>relatively competitive average tariffs.<br>Recovery of traffic after Côte d’Ivoire crisis.<br>SITARAIL is on track to achieve its highest- ever<br>traffic volume.|Financial distress of SITARAIL.<br>Rebalancing financial structure of the railway concession.<br>Finding alternative funding for rehabilitation backlog.|
|Roads|Good international connectivity.<br>Adequate design of road network, given the level of<br>traffic.|Ability to provision for road maintenance.<br>Limited access from rural farms to markets.<br>High transport and transit costs due to poor logistics.<br>Ability to enforce control of axel loads particularly across<br>borders.|
|Water and<br>sanitation|Progress in providing access to improved water<br>and sanitation, particularly in urban areas.<br>Successful private-public partnership in the water<br>utility.<br>Water utility among the most efficient in Africa.|Sanitation MDG is off track.<br>Lack of consistent data and standardized norms for<br>monitoring progress in access.<br>Improving provision in rural areas.|

_Source:_ Authors’ elaboration based on findings of this report.

_Note:_ SAT-3/WASC = South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable; GSM = global system for mobile communications; MDG = Millennium Development Goal; ICT = information and communication technology; WAPP = West African Power Pool.

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