Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa – harnessing land values, housing and transport
Literature review on land value capture and infrastructure finance
Abstract
This literature review, carried out during the inception phase of the project ‘Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa – harnessing land values, housing and transport’, deals with the nature and dynamics of urban property markets in Sub-Saharan Africa and the way in which these can provide a basis for funding urban infrastructure using various land value capture mechanisms.
Following the introduction, Section 2 defines the scope of this literature review and the methodology applied in doing the work.
Section 3 sets the context associated with urban living in Sub-Saharan Africa, the trends relating to urbanisation, the nature of the property market and the current status with infrastructure provision and the overall arrangements for financing infrastructure.
Sections 4 and 5 deal with specific land value capture mechanisms as these are applied internationally, including with experience with these mechanisms in specific countries outside Sub-Saharan Africa.
Section 6 covers a review of international policy on property markets and infrastructure finance. The applicability of land value capture as a means of financing infrastructure is addressed.
Based on the literature relating to international experience and policy proposals, Section 7 summarises ‘lessons’ for Sub-Saharan African countries with regard to application of land value capture mechanisms for financing infrastructure. These lessons cover the merits of land value capture as a finance mechanism as well as the limitations of this approach.
In Section 8 the potential application of land value capture in Sub-Saharan African countries is reviewed. This is covered firstly looking at the extent to which the conditions are favourable for such and approach and, secondly, by summarising experience in the few places where land value capture is actually being applied.
Finally, interim recommendations on what needs to happen to expand the application of land value capture mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa are made in Section 9. Issues to be addressed in the Implementation Phase of the project within which this literature review fits are included.
Citation
African Centre for Cities. Urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa - harnessing land values, housing and transport. Literature review on land value capture and infrastructure finance. African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa (2015) v + 51 pp.
Links