Linking Mining and Infrastructure Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Collaborative Framework for Sustainable Shared-Use of Rails and Ports Facilities for Minerals and Non-Minerals Activities
This study aims to develop and establish an appropriately co-ordinated regime for infrastructure sharing facilities development and regulation in SSA that could be utilised by the various stakeholders involved in mining infrastructure related activities, as well as those not involved in mineral-related activities, to enable economic diversification and broad-based development within a country. The starting point of the study is the gap that exists within the mining legal framework of Sub-Saharan African countries regarding the development of large scale mining infrastructure related projects such as rails and ports infrastructure networks that require meticulous coordination and collaboration between the numerous stakeholders involved. Consequently, the thesis starts with an introductory chapter that introduces the subject area to be examined in the thesis and provides a rationale for why this topic has been chosen. It also outlines areas of concern within the research topic and sets out the research questions. Subsequently, it sets out the conceptual framework and the necessary analytical tools utilised to evaluate and analyse the concept of shared- use of rail and port infrastructure. Chapter 3 investigates mining infrastructure related projects in Australia, specifically those located in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Chapter 4 explores mining infrastructure related projects in SSA, specifically projects located in Guinea and provide recommendations to SSA countries in general and to the Government of Guinea in particular, on how best to develop shared-use mining infrastructure. Finally, Chapter 5 highlights the findings of the thesis based on the comparison between mining infrastructure development undertaken in Australia with that of the SSA region. The study finds that most countries on the continent suffer from governance gaps expressed in institutional dysfunction, as well as from structures that do not foster collaboration but, on the contrary, deficient environments for national strategies for infrastructure that works for development.
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