Republic of Guinea : Planning, Connecting, Financing in Conakry
This study looks into the challenges and opportunities posed by urbanization in Guinea, reviewing briefly the trends at the national level but focusing on the urban area of Conakry. The main reasons for focusing on the urban area of Conakry are the...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/761191559149103957/Guinea-Urban-Sector-Review-Planning-Connecting-Financing-in-Conakry http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31757 |
| Summary: | This study looks into the challenges and
opportunities posed by urbanization in Guinea, reviewing
briefly the trends at the national level but focusing on the
urban area of Conakry. The main reasons for focusing on the
urban area of Conakry are the following. While secondary
cities in Guinea are growing economically and in population,
Conakry already represents close to 50 percent of the urban
population and its demographic growth outpaces that of other
urban areas. This creates a sense of urgency to solving the
country’s capital problems. Secondly, Conakry remains the
country’s main interface for international trade through its
port facility. Failure to address Conakry’s issues,
including congestion levels, would likely weaken its (and
Guinea’s) attractiveness in the long run. Follow-up studies
could however look into Guinea’s system of cities, including
how they are connected to each other within the country and
with their neighbors. The analysis presented in this review
shows that urban areas in Guinea, and Conakryin particular
are currently not acting as engines of growth and
competitiveness and are failing at providing public services
and quality living standards for their residents. It argues
that the reasons are to be found i) in the business
environment which, recent progress aside, stymies private
sector job creation and economic diversification, ii) in
Conakry’s deficient connectivity system which acts as a
bottleneck for residents to have access to economic
opportunities, iii) in its obsolete and unenforced planning
strategies and its rigid land markets and iv) in the lack of
institutional clarity and financial resources which leads to
underinvestment in public services. |
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