•The report said there is a major constraint on African cities' access to capital markets for financing the upfront capital cost of infrastructure investment.
•These challenges which are both of a legislative and administrative nature, exist for primary cities and are even more pronounced for secondary cities.
Image: FAITH MATETE
A new report by the African Development Bank and Cities Alliance has revealed that intermediary cities are the backbone of the continent, they absorb most of the urban population.
The report titled ‘Dynamics of Secondary Cities in Africa, Urbanisation, Migration and Development’ was released on Wednesday during the Africities Conference.
The report analyses urban governance, economic, development, social and environmental factors that are shaping the development of secondary cities.
According to the report, secondary cities are key but not yet a priority.
African secondary cities are home to 15 per cent of the continent's population, they are intermediary hubs and centres of production, governance, services and logistics
However, many do not function effectively.
According to the report, of the total urban cluster identified by Africapolis in Africa, over 630 are secondary cities of between 100,000 and one million inhabitants.
“As of today, they are not a priority of policy focus in Africa, 20 countries have national urbanisation policies, 14 mentioning secondary or intermediary cites in their urban policy statement,” read the report.
Nnenna Nwabufo, the African Development Bank managing director for East Africa,said despite this, they face a significant investment gap and have very little financial resources of their own.
“Intermediary cities' growth is accelerating. By 2040, two-thirds of the people who move to urban areas will be moving to intermediary cities. Consequently, investment needs are growing,” Nwabufo said.
She said the challenge is now to guarantee basic social services and to turn these cities into economic growth hubs to rebalance the territories.
Babati Mokgheti, in charge of Urban Development at AfDB, however said rural exodus towards the hypertrophied national capitals is generating enormous challenges.
He said it is crucial to redirect part of these flows to intermediary cities, to reduce the pressure on the capitals.
“By investing in medium-sized cities, we create a territorial network that strengthens integration between metropolises and the countryside,” Mokgheti said.
The report said there is a major constraint on African cities' access to capital markets for financing the upfront capital cost of infrastructure investment.
These challenges which are both of a legislative and administrative nature, exist for primary cities and are even more pronounced for secondary cities.
The report said financial intermediaries have an important role in terms of increasing the creditworthiness of secondary cities by improving their financial capacity.
“Engaging with the diaspora will be key, the diaspora is the most underutilised pool of social capital in Africa,” he said.
Over the past decade, the AfDB annual investments in urban areas have more than tripled.
Intermediary cities have been recipients of these investments.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris