Case Study

This chapter presents a case study of the Maputo Corridor toll road concession, linking South Africa with neighboring Mozambique. As the first cross-border transport PPP in SSA, this project is the first PPP in the region with a claim to the kind of “transformational” qualities that the G20 and the African Union have been hoping will dramatically improve infrastructure across the continent. The continent includes many landlocked countries as well as countries that are too small and poor to be able to finance adequate power and transport infrastructure without the collaboration of neighbors. However, this project is still the only cross-border toll road concession ever completed in SSA. Why have no similar projects ever been completed in Africa? What makes the Maputo toll road a unique project? What lessons can we learn from the Maputo project about the likely success of cross-border transformational PPPs in SSA?