East Africa is one of the six subregions of Africa and is governed at the sub-regional level by the East African Community (EAC). One of the challenges faced by the East African Community (EAC) is a lack of harmony in transport policies, regulations and standards across member states which has resulted in inefficiency and a high cost of doing business within the sub-region. When goods and people move from one border to the next, they are met with different standards and regulations which cause gross delays, increased expenses, loss of perishable goods, discourages cross-border investment and threatens the integration of countries in the EAC. There have been efforts geared towards harmonising the standards particularly in the area of fuel and vehicles. However, there is still room for more work to be done in other aspects of the transport sector to harmonise regulations, policies as well as infrastructural considerations.
East African governments score poorly on the corruption perception index with an average score of 30 out of a possible 100. Corruption and lack of transparency is a significant characteristic of poor governance. It negatively impacts on transport delivery by creating issues at every level of operation ranging from poor administrative and management capacity to questionable procurement and employment, biased project selection, low financing, poor implementation and monitoring, project delays and budget overruns.. It is difficult, almost impossible, for governments to carry out their important public function under a culture of corruption.
Transport infrastructure is a crucial driver of economic growth. It is a key component of public capital and can therefore only be adequately achieved through transparent processes initiated and controlled by national, local/city and municipal governments. Transport infrastructure in the sub-region receives considerable funding from the national government and donors but there is little to show for these investments. Expenditure reports and ground realities often point to mismanagement of project funds which result in transport infrastructure projects failing to deliver on the promise. Poor project management, lack of maintenance of existing infrastructure and corruption is evidently shown through worn out transport facilities, a slow or laboured pace of implementing new projects and low-quality outputs despite high investment. The outcome is a network of inadequate transport infrastructure that is unable to meet the socio-economic needs of the concerned cities and countries.
At a national and sub-national level in member states, there is the challenge of overlapping roles and poor coordination among institutions dealing with transport. It is common in East African countries to have several actors managing different components of the transport sector with little to no coordination among these actors. A good example of this was observed in Tanzania during the setting up of the Dar-es-Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) and the Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Authority (DURT). It was noted that there was a considerable lack of clarity, consistency and coordination in the roles of national, city and municipal public authorities providing loopholes in the transport system which promotes the advent of informal transport. Despite the existence of transport policies in East African countries, the ground realities do not always reflect this. Policies are often not well implemented or monitored creating a conducive environment for informality in the transport sector to quickly set in.
Informality within this sub-region, and Africa in general, is also a significant problem. Informal transport manifests itself as privately owned public transport services which are run by several private operators with little to no regulation by the government. These largely unregulated operators are to an extent their ‘own boss’, setting their ‘own rules’. They decide where to pick and drop off passengers, what fares to charge, what type of vehicles to use, what routes to take, who to employ and so on. This results in a comparatively chaotic transport system to other countries whose consequences are revenue losses for the government, traffic flow inefficiencies causing traffic congestion, air-noise pollution linked to the type of fuel and vehicles used, poor inclusion with limited consideration for vulnerable groups (women, children, disabled, the poor), inadequate safety mechanisms and an overall unpleasant mobility experience for most users.
Additionally, East Africa’s transport infrastructure is poorly designed to suit the current needs of its citizens. A close examination of the current urban form and existing transport infrastructure reveals that little has changed since the colonial era and cities have maintained their inherited morphology. In colonial East Africa, roads were designed for cars and the ‘white’ zones were better serviced than the ‘coloured’ and ‘black’ zones. Presently, a large proportion of East Africa’s road network has maintained the colonial planning character with roads being designed for cars, lacking or having limited provision for walking and cycling while maintaining the class segregation where the rich parts of the city are better serviced than the poorer regions. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, disabled persons and women are also not considered in the design of transport infrastructure. Transport in East Africa from colonial times to the present remains non-inclusive and car-centric by design.
Roads that are designed for car use will naturally result in an increased motorisation level. East Africa is rapidly motorising, filling the market with used, polluting vehicles that rely heavily on fossil fuels and in the public transport sector, they are also generally quite noisy. Climate Action projects that approximately three-quarters of the global vehicle fleet will be found in low- and middle-income countries by 2050. Due to the relatively higher motorisation levels in cities compared to rural areas, urban areas in East Africa will continue to record the highest number of air quality related issues from the transport sector. An inefficient transport system, coupled with proliferation of polluting used vehicles, inadequate regulation policies and low purchasing power of the populace contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that air pollution is responsible for approximately 7 million deaths annually, over 750,000 of which are recorded in Africa. Not only does air pollution from the transport sector pose a serious public health and climate threat, but also has major economic implications. The economic cost of ambient air pollution in Africa is approximately $215 billion. The parameters used to arrive at this cost, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), include healthcare costs, sick leave days, reduced economic output and loss of young manpower. A “business as usual” culture will not achieve the results needed to meet Paris Climate Agreement targets. Drastic measures in transport delivery must be taken if the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recommended 1.5°C global temperature rise limit is to remain feasible. Improving mobility in East Africa is a key strategy for mitigating against increasing air pollution and to meet global climate emission reduction targets.
East African governments also face challenges in delivering transport infrastructure that can cater for their large populations. Kenya, for instance, has the largest road network in East Africa. According to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA), the country has a road network of about 177,800 km out of which only 63,575 km is classified. Since independence, the classified road network has seen an increase from 41,800 km to 63,575 km, a development rate of less than 600 km per annum. With a population of approximately 50 million people, the road network is insufficient for the large population it is intended to serve particularly in the urban areas. The situation is likely worse in the neighbouring countries which have a lower road coverage and high populations. There is a need for increased efforts by governments to expand transport infrastructure coverage, diversify modes by creating alternatives to cars such as rail networks and to make it connected and accessible to most, if not all, citizens.
Finally, lack of up-to-date data and research is another hurdle. It is difficult to solve a problem which has not been proven to exist. Government investment in research in East Africa is still not a priority for many East African governments. Universities are tasked with raising their own revenues for research and the majority of research institutions are funded by donor funding which in some cases comes with restrictive, non-contextualised pre-conditions. It is necessary for governments to invest in research and capacity development to promote evidence-based decision making in the transport sector.