The Economist

Why are there so many unfinished buildings in Africa?

2021-04-29 · 00:00 UTC ·1 min read

Brief

This brief article uses a concrete example from Senegal's capital to illustrate a widespread phenomenon across Africa: buildings that begin construction but never reach completion. The piece describes a six-story apartment building in Dakar that has remained a concrete shell for years, inhabited only by crows, despite the city experiencing a property boom. The headline suggests three key factors behind this pattern: inadequate banking infrastructure that fails to provide consistent construction financing, weak property rights and land titling systems that create legal uncertainties, and family disputes over inheritance and property ownership that can halt projects mid-construction. While the article is quite short and doesn't delve deeply into the economic mechanisms or provide quantitative data, it touches on a significant infrastructure challenge that affects urban development across the continent.

Why it matters

The Economist examines why construction projects across Africa frequently stall mid-build:

Key details

  • [infrastructure] Six-story apartment building in Dakar has sat unfinished for 5-6 years despite property boom
  • [causes] Weak banking systems, poor land titling, and family disputes over property contribute to stalled projects
  • [pattern] Construction often stops abruptly after concrete is poured, leaving buildings abandoned for years
Source evidence

title: Why are there so many unfinished buildings in Africa?
contenttype: article
publication: The Economist
published: 2021-04-29T00:00:00
sourceurl: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/04/29/why-are-there-so-many-unfinished-buildings-in-africa

word_count: 268

Middle East & Africa| A room without a roof

Why are there so many unfinished buildings in Africa?

Weak banks, poor land titling and grabby relatives all play a role

LIKE AN ENORMOUS grey skeleton, a six-storey apartment building looms over a quiet street in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Concrete balconies and bedrooms are discernible. But there are no windows, doors or lights. And the only painting is of the scatological variety from the sole residents: crows. How long has it been like that? “Five or six years,” says the guard. Property in Senegal has been booming, but concrete is frequently poured into buildings only for construction suddenly to stop, often for many years.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A room without a roof”

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