Impact of corruption on achieving sustainable development goals within Africa’s construction industry

Abstract

Corruption is prevalent across the construction industry in developing countries. This is due to converging factors such as (a) the sector’s requirement for substantial capital investment, (b) government involvement, (c) time pressures to deliver new projects in response to the climate crisis and (d) unharmonised and complex regulatory environments. These factors together with access to lucrative contracts, and the presence of rent-seeking ‘gatekeepers’ establish that corruption represents a significant challenge in developing countries. This research undertook a critical and analytical review of the literature and found that thus far, corruption remains a threat to the construction of renewable energy assets in Africa. It also found that despite solutions (anti-corruption strategies) proffered by academics, experts, and institutions including the United Nations, Transparency International and the World Bank, these have had minimal impact. Hence, in Africa, challenges to implement sustainable urbanisation via the construction of renewable energy infrastructure persist. Furthermore, it explored if the creation of a binding duty of good faith via legislation harmonised across Africa could have an impact on corruption. This led to the creation of an assessment framework, and recommendations of empirical investigations including whether harmonised legislation across Africa can reduce corruption within its construction industry. To empower the industry to achieve sustainable development goals, this research was produced to advance the understanding of corruption within Africa’s construction industry on renewable energy infrastructure. This research also addresses the gap in knowledge regarding the possible and plausible impact of the binding duty of good faith on overcoming corruption within Africa’s construction industry.