A new credo is emerging among African politicians: it is best described as infrastructure fundamentalism. The argument is that most African states cannot meet the Millennium Development Goals or other targets without massive investment in infrastructure: roads, ports, water supply and energy. Such investments should take precedence over social spending, according to Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni. At the African Development Bank conference in Shanghai, the Bank's development report argued that Africa needed to invest US$20 billion a year in sanitation and drinking water projects 'to sustain its water resources'. A month later, Ghana held a conference for Africa's finance and energy ministers to address the continent's electricity deficit and lack of finance for new projects. This push for infrastructure coincides with the willingness of China and India to build roads, power and water plants for substantially less than Western companies – and to provide finance. A decade ago, the World Bank was arguing for maximum private sector participation in such projects. That is under revision. There is enough demand in Africa to accommodate all projects on offer. Now it is up to the more creative financial engineers to find ways for governments to pay for them.