$100 Billion Needed Annually to Sustain Infrastructure in MENA Region

$100 Billion Needed Annually to Sustain Infrastructure in MENA Region

Navid Hanif, Director of Financing for Sustainable Development Office at the United Nations, said that the Middle East and North Africa region would need to spend at least 8.2 percent of GDP to achieve infrastructure goals by 2030.

“With the population of the Middle East and North Africa expected to increase by more than 40 percent over the next few decades, and with increasing industrial demand, the region will need to invest more than $100 billion annually to maintain and build the infrastructure to serve the growing communities and cities,” Hanif told Asharq Al-Awsat.

A World Bank study estimated the investment required for a reliable, strong, secure and resilient infrastructure in the Arab region at up to $100 billion. Conflicts and wars have amplified this need, with the destruction of roads, buildings, and water, electricity and communication networks in a number of countries. Syria, for example, saw the loss of an estimated $117.7 billion in housing and infrastructure in 2017.

Hanif stressed that new investments need to focus on making the infrastructure more resilient. A large part of the Arab region is located in harsh climatic zones, he underlined, noting that the average spending on infrastructure over the past decade has reached just