TRANSPORT IN EAST AFRICA

Transport is the movement of people and goods and services from one place to
another.
The types of transport systems in East Africa include.
1. Road
2. railways,
3. Air transport
4. Water transport
5. Pipeline transport
6. human porterage & animals.

1. ROAD TRANSPORT
This is the most common means of transport used in east africa.

ADVANTAGES
1. It’s the most flexible means i.e. can connect to all areas and offers a wide range
of alternatives e.g. bicycles, cars, Lorries e.t.c.
2. It’s faster than railway transport.
3. It’s the best to transport bulky commodities over short distances.
4. Roads are cheaper to construct than airports and railways.

DISADVANTAGES
 Relief features like hills and swamps make road construction very difficult.
 Traffic congestion is very common on roads leading to delays.
 Accidents are more common on roads than any other means of transport
leading to loss of lives.
 Poor road surfaces due to poor work man ship is the major problem faced by
roads.
 The roads require constant maintenance which is expensive.
 It is affected by insecurity in terms of highway robbers leading to losses.
 Dry weather roads are affected by heavy rainfall making them impassable.


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ROLE OF ROAD TRANSPORT TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1. It has helped in development of fishing by linking landing sites to market
centers.
2. Promotes agriculture by linking rural areas to urban markets.
3. Promotes cross border trade between the East African countries hence
increasing revenue.
4. Promotes regional co-operation amongest the East African countries which
promotes peace.
5. Provides government with revenue through custom duties, road licenses and
driving permits for national development.
6. Provides employment opportunities e.g. engineers, police officials hence
improved standards of living.
7. Promotes industrial growth through the distribution of industrial goods to
market centers and transportation of raw materials.
8. Promotes tourism by connecting to all tourist sites in the remote areas.
9. Facilitates easy exchange of ideas necessary for national development.
10. Promotes linear settlement pattern along roads which leads to urbanisation
and its advantages e.g. setting up of schools.

2. RAILWAY TRANSPORT
This is mainly developed for the purpose of transporting bulky commodities. In east
Africa, there are 3 major railway lines;
i) Kenya-Uganda railway
ii) Tanzam-Tazara railway.
iii) Central Tanzania railway (Dar-es-salaam-Kigoma railway)

ADVANTAGES
 It’s generally cheaper compared to road transport.
 Cheapest means to transport bulky commodities over long distances.
 It’s not affected by traffic congestion.
 It’s very convenient since it has specific time schedules.

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DISADVANTAGES
 It’s generally slow compared to air and road transport.
 Rails are expensive to build and maintain.
 It’s not flexible because it cannot be used where rails don`t exist.
 Rails are almost restricted to generally flat land surfaces.

ROLE OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT TO ECONOMIC DEVELPOMENT OF

EAST AFRICA
1. Promotes cross border trade between the East African countries hence increasing
revenue.
2. Promotes regional co-operation amongst the East African countries which
promotes peace.
3. Provides government with revenue through custom duties for national
development.
4. Provides employment opportunities e.g. engineers, police officials hence
improved standards of living.
5. Promotes industrial growth through the distribution of industrial goods to market
centers.
6. Promotes agriculture through linking farms to market centres.
7. Open up remote areas for development leading to regional balance e.g. southern
Tanzania.
8. Facilitates movement of labour force through passenger transportation.
N.B. railway transport has greatly declined in Uganda due to vandalisation/theft of
rails especially the route from Kampala to Kasese.
3. AIR TRANSPORT
The most important airports in East Africa are;
i) Entebbe international airport in Uganda.
ii) Jomo Kenyatta/Embakasi in Nairobi and Mombasa airport in Kenya.
iii) Dar-es-salaam, Arusha and Moshi in Tanzania.
N.B. Jomo Kenyatta/Embakasi airport in Nairobi is the most important and has got
the most connections and busiest schedules in East Africa.

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ADVANTAGES
 It’s the fastest over long distances especially across borders.
 It’s very comfortable and less tire some.
 It’s suitable for carrying high value commodities e.g. drugs, army weapons,
computers and optical items e.g. watches.
 It’s the best for transporting perishable goods/commodities e.g. flowers, fish
and vegetables.
 It’s not affected by traffic congestion.
 It’s always on strict time schedule hence reducing delays.
 Doesn’t require construction of the path ways/routes for aero planes.

DISADVANTAGES
1. It’s the most expensive.
2. In case of an accident, chances of survival are very minimal.
3. It’s not flexible because it’s not readily available in all areas.
4. It’s not effective in transporting bulky goods/ commodities.
5. It’s affected by poor weather e.g. fog leading to accidents.

ROLE OF AIR TRANSPORT IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

 It helps to promote tourism by transporting foreign tourists.
 It promotes international relationships which ensures world peace.
 It promotes international trade which increases government revenue for
national development.
 Through international trade, it helps to promote agriculture which is the major
activity in East Africa.

4. WATER TRANSPORT
This is the cheapest means of transport. It takes place on inland lakes and rivers and
on the Indian Ocean.
N.B: River Nile is not used for water transport in Uganda because it’s not navigable
due to the existance of many waterfalls and rapids e.g. Bujagali, Owen falls, Rippon
falls and Karuma falls.
N.B: A number of ports have been developed on major water bodies to ease water
transport e.g. of inland ports include;

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a) Lake Victoria has got several ports which include: Musoma, Kisumu, Port bell
(Luzira), Mwanza, Bukoba, Majanji and Kasensero.
b) Lake Albert has got: Butiaba, Wanseko, Buliisa, Ndaiga, Panyimur and
Ntoroko.
c) Lake Edward has got Rwenshama.
d) Lake Kyoga has got Kachung, Lwampanga and Nabyeso.
e) Lake George has got Magyo.
f) Lake Tanganyika has got Kigoma.
g) Coastal Ports include: Mombasa, Dar-es-salaam, Tanga, Malindi, Lamu,
Mtwara and Lindi.

ADVANTAGES OF WATER TRANSPORT

1. It’s the cheapest.
2. It’s not affected by traffic congestion.
3. Water ways are naturally availed hence saving costs of construction.
4. It can be used to transport bulky commodities e.g. timber.
5. It connects distant areas e.g. islands.

DISADVANTAGES
1. It’s only restricted to areas with only lakes and rivers i.e. not flexible.
2. Accidents in water due to strong waves and poor visibility claim many lives.
3. The water hyacinth and papyrus hinder navigation.
4. Some rivers are seasonal and can’t be used during the dry period e.g. river
Mayanja.
5. Water transport is very slow compared to road transport.
6. Many rivers are not navigable because of waterfalls and rapids e.g. river Nile.

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ROLE OF WATER TRANSPORT IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1. Promotes fishing due to easy movement on water bodies.
2. Promotes agriculture by linking agricultural islands to market areas e.g.
Kalangala.
3. Promotes lumbering by helping in the distribution of timber products.
4. Promotes cross border trade between the East African countries hence increasing
revenue.
5. Promotes regional co-operation amongst the East African countries which
promotes peace.
6. Provides government with revenue through custom duties for national
development.
7. Provides employment opportunities e.g. engineers, patrol officials hence
improved standards of living.
8. Promotes industrial growth through the distribution of industrial goods to
international market centers.
9. Promotes tourism by connecting to all tourist sites in the island areas e.g.
Kalangala.

5. PIPELINE TRANSPORT
This involves the transportation of gases, water and oil using pipes. It is highly
used in urban centres for transporting domestics and industrial water through pipes e.g.
water used in Kampala is mostly transported by pipelines from Ggaba on the shores of
Lake Victoria.
Pipelines are also used in transporting oil (petroleum) from Mombasa to
Eldoret via Nairobi.
Another pipeline was constructed from Dar-es-salaam to Kapiri-Mposhi in the
Zambia copper belt to transport oil.

Advantages of pipeline transport

1. It is a cheaper means of transporting liquids and gasses.
2. It can be used to transport large volume of liquids and gasses at a single time.
3. It is more reliable since it can even be used in politically unstable regions.
4. It does not pollute the environment unlike roads and railways.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR TRANSPORT
NETWORKS IN EAST AFRICA
 Government policy which can be for political or economic reasons. Areas that
are economically viable will encourage government to construct roads and railways to
exploit the resources.
 Regions with abundant economic potential e.g. mining centers tend to have
more roads and railway lines compared to unproductive areas.
 Areas which are urbanized and are densely populated always have more
transport routes than sparsely populated areas.
 Relief whereby steep areas make road and railway construction very difficult
compared to low lands and flat areas which make road construction very easy.
 Drainage whereby areas with poor drainage e.g. swamps are avoided during
road construction while well drained areas e.g. gentle slopes make it easy for road and
railway construction.
 Areas with dense vegetation cover e.g. tropical rain forests will discourage
road and railway construction while areas with savannah vegetation will attract road
and railway construction. However government will always construct roads leading to
forests so as to develop lumbering activities.
 Areas with water bodies like lakes and rivers will discourage road
construction but instead lead to development of water transport.
 Flat areas also attract construction of airports compared to hilly areas which
discourage construction of airports and airfields.
 Areas with fertile soils will attract large population which leads to
construction of roads and railways unlike areas with infertile soils.
 Areas with tourist attractions will attract roads and airfields to ease movement
of tourists unlike areas without major tourist attractions.
 Availability of capital: where there is enough capital for construction of
transport means, government will always develop them than when there is inadequate
capital for road construction.

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EFFECTS OF TRANSPORT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Pollution from vehicles emitting fumes and oil spills from ships into water
bodies.
2. Smoke and smog have caused poor visibility.
3. Creation of barren lands where rocks have been excavated e.g. along river
channels.
4. Increased temperatures/Global warming due to gas emissions.
5. Loss of bio-diversity i.e. migration of water animals and bird species due to
pollution.
6. Destruction of forests and swamp reclamation to create land for roads and
railways.
7. Displacement of many people due to the need to expand roads and railway lines.
8. Encroachment on land for other land uses like fishing, forestry and agriculture.
9. Destruction of scenic beauty of landscape by removing vegetation and rocks.
10. Land degradation e.g. through stone quarrying which leaves behind pits that are
breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

PROBLEMS FACING THE TRANSPORT SECTOR IN EAST AFRICA

 Inadequate capital to establish and improve the transport and communication
networks.
 Inadequate skilled manpower to help in the construction of transport and
communication networks.
 Low levels of technology used to construct transport and communication
lines.
 Steep relief in mountainous regions which makes it expensive to construct
roads and railways.
 Physical barriers e.g. rivers, forests and deserts make the construction of
transport lines very difficult.
 Harsh climatic conditions e.g. heavy rains lead to floods hence making roads
impassable while mist and fog hinder air and water transport.
 Political instability e.g. wars make road construction very difficult and also
during the wars, roads and railway lines are destroyed.
 Corruption and embezzlement of funds by ministry of transport and
communication officials hence leading to poor roads

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 Areas with clay soils have made road construction very difficult and
expensive.
 It’s very expensive to compensate people incase their land is to be taken by
government to expand existing roads.

SOLUTIONS TO THE ABOVE PROBLEMS

1. Securing loans and grants from World Bank and developed countries to provide
more capital for investment in transport development.
2. Hiring expatriates who can construct modern and better roads and railways.
3. Encourage training of local personnel to ensure enough skilled labour.
4. Importation of modern tools and technology for constructing of modern roads
and railways.
5. Construction of tunnels to be used in areas with steep relief.
6. Flushing out rebels and strengthening security to create peace which attracts
investment in the transport sector.
7. Fighting corruption by strengthening government organs e.g. police, parliament
and Inspector General of Government (I.G.G).
8. Formation of regional blocks e.g. East African Community (E.A.C) to remove
borders restrictions.