Transport

The transportation system in Africa is plagued by cumbersome administrative and customs measures, lack of appropriate maintenance of the road system, and inappropriate policies for managing and regulating services. All these factors hamper the flow of goods and services. As a result transport costs in Africa are among the highest in the world. This means a high cost of doing business, part of the reason why African products are not very competitive in international markets.

For land-locked countries transport costs can reach 76.7% of the value of exports. In the West African road corridors linking the ports of Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Cotonou (Benin), Dakar (Senegal), and Lomé (Togo) to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, truckers paid $ 322 million in undue costs at police, customs, and gendarmerie checkpoints in 1997 because the Inter-State Road Transportation Convention had not been implemented. While shipping a car from Japan to Abidjan costs $1,500 (including insurance), shipping that same car from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Abidjan would cost $5,000. The rail network, currently estimated at a length of 89,380 kilometres, has poor interconnections, especially in central and western Africa, and a limited rolling stock.

The air transport sub-sector received a major breakthrough in 1999 with the adoption of the Yamoussoukro decision. The Decision increased the pace of liberalization of access to air transport markets in the region. However, flying from Abuja, Nigeria, to Bamako, Mali, still costs around $395, while a much longer flight from Amsterdam to New York might cost only $164. There is a choice of only one carrier when flying between Abuja and Bamako and no direct link between the two cities.

ECA, regional policy-makers and all Regional Economic Communities (RECs) share the objective of establishing an efficient, integrated transport system to facilitate national and international traffic and foster trade and factor mobility. Key problems remain, including: missing links, non-physical barriers, insufficient competition, high transport costs, lack of harmonization of rules and procedures, inadequate safety and security at national and regional levels, lack of cross-border investment and private sector participation, and lack of ratification and implementation of conventions and regional policies adopted during sectoral meetings.

The transport element of the sub-programme is working with RECs and member states towards resolving these difficulties. Details of the work programme can be found by clicking the link for programmes.

Documents