'Maintenance is for people who think too small’– Africa

My uncle travels widely in Africa, having been involved in the planning of many mobile telecoms installations on the continent, and he always has a story about how governments fail to maintain what they have.

His favourite story is of an airport he once landed at in East Africa. His take on the tale is that rather than maintaining the old airport, a new one was simply built next to the old one, leaving the old one to become a ruin of some-or-other previous era.

Similarly, my uncle tells me of tarred roads, which – almost organically – became gravel roads before retuning to thick forests. How true any of this is I can’t say, but what I can say, knowing that I drive specific lines to miss potholes on my way to work everyday, is that public servants maybe aren’t as enthusiastic about maintenance as the should be.

I remember when I was in New York last year. The Mayor got quite upset that a pothole he drove through yesterday wasn’t fixed today. Perhaps then the enthusiasm needs to come from ‘the top’.

Zambia’s massive road rebuilding plan was nipped in the bud by a European Union donor community, which said that Zambia should look at a programme of road maintenance rather than building new roads unnecessarily.

The government, not jumping for joy at the simpler prospect of just fixing their roads, was left oddly sullen by this. It seems there may be more to this than maintenance being a ‘dirty word’.

It can be that the opportunity of ‘rebuilding’ may make governments feel that they are in fact adding something new to the country, i.e. cementing their purpose, though I doubt we can attribute all this to a simple case of a minority complex. And I think its safe to say that Africa needs 'building', not 're-building'. There's no point in doing things twice.

The more possible reality is that big programmes (think short-tem injection) create many short-term jobs, while propping up growth. The once scramble for Africa by Royals has been replaced with a scramble for the ‘big number’ and the higher the number the better, no matter how sustainable it is.

So while these governments (like many governments around the world) look for some rosy stats for the next election, the sad reality is that without maintenance its all rather in vain. Things fall apart if not looked after making the potential to cement a legacy unlikely.

The EU, although not explicit about this, was probably recognising that maintenance programmes will create long-term sustainable jobs because roads always need fixing, unless, of course, you live in Germany and the concrete is extra thick.
Maintenance, that dirty ‘m’ word and what does my uncle always finish his stories with showing his obvious bias to telecommunications? No state can function without communications and transport. No country has a chance of economic growth without it and you know, as much as I'd like thick forests to cover Africa, I think he's probably right.