Plans underway to unclog East Africa’s congested roads

From commissioning new highways and bypasses to unveiling mass transportation systems, authorities are pumping billions of dollars into road infrastructure upgrades in urban areas. Challenges, however, abound and the efforts are yet to pay off. TEA Graphic  Nation Media Group

By Peterson Thiong’o The EastAfrican

In Summary

• From Kampala to Kigali, authorities are struggling to find solutions to the problem that is as much a product of economic growth as it is of poor urban planning, given the increasing number of people migrating to towns.
• Urbanisation will be the main challenge to regional cities upgrading their road network.

On average, a commuter in either Nairobi or Dar es Salaam spends one working day per week held up in traffic.

The problem is so severe that a 2011 Commuter Pain Index by technology firm IBM ranked Nairobi fourth among 20 cities around the world with the worst traffic jams, with an average commuter spending two hours every day in traffic.

IBM, which is working on solutions to aid traffic management in Nairobi, also rated Mexico City as the worst, with Shenzhen and Beijing tying in second place.

READ: Using technology to unlock traffic jams in EA’s capital cities

The survey examined the emotional and economic toll of commuting in 20 cities around the world, and found that nearly two-thirds of respondents in Nairobi report traffic as a key inhibitor to work or school performance.

This traffic nightmare extends across the region.

From Kampala to Kigali, authorities are struggling to find solutions to the problem that is as much a product of economic growth as it is of poor urban planning, given the increasing number of people migrating to towns.

In the past decade alone for example, the region has registered high economic growth rate of 6 per cent, compared with the world’s average of 4 per cent, leading to an upsurge of the middle classes who have spending power.

This in turn has triggered a new wave of consumerism that includes vehicle imports. But on the flip side, the number of vehicles on the road is growing at a faster rate than governments across the region can put up additional infrastructure.

Roads, particularly those in urban areas are becoming increasingly congested.

In Rwanda alone, for example, the number of cars has doubled to over 120,000 from about 50,000 in just the past three years.

Now the region’s governments are adopting ambitious infrastructure projects in a bid to unclog the perennial traffic jams.

From commissioning new highways and by-passes to unveiling mass transportation systems, authorities are pumping billions of dollars into upgrading road infrastructure in urban areas.

The Confederation of Tanzania Industries says traffic jams in the country are eating into more than 20 per cent of annual profits of most businesses. Now the government has unveiled an ambitious long term project to address the problem in the capital city.

The Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit System (DART) which involves the building of 130km of road around the city over six phases is underway.

Phase one, scheduled for completion by 2015, a 20.9 kilometre road reserved for public buses is under construction.

In January, the World Bank advanced the country $100 million to finance the project.

The country will then license two transport companies that will deploy 148 buses each with a capacity of 140 passengers for both normal and express services.

Another 60 buses will operate on feeder routes collecting passengers for the main bus services. It is expected that an average 460,000 passengers will be transported daily.

Dala dala phase out

But most significantly, phase one of the project will also see the government get rid of 1,500 of the city’s 9,000 dala dalas — public transport vehicles that are often overcrowded and operate at high speeds — developed as a response to an insufficient public transport system in the country.

READ: No more licences for ‘daladalas’ as Dar eyes rapid transport system by 2015

Currently, only about 120 kilometres of the city’s total road network of about 520 kilometres is tarmacked.

In Uganda, works on the construction of the $350 million, four lane 51.4 kilometre Kampala-Entebbe highway has started, with the project set for completion in the next four years.

But economic and legal challenges stand in the way of Pioneer, the city’s main rapid transport company.

The Ugandan taxman has grounded part of the company’s fleet over unpaid taxes.

The bus company on its part says the Kampala City Council had reneged on a commitment to provide an enabling environment, especially with regard to controlling traffic.

“We are operating at half our capacity because we are still held back by space constraints as we share parking with other commuter taxis, but the authority is not doing anything about the problem,” Albert Mugaga, a shareholder in the company told the Monitor, our sister publication in an interview.

Mr Mugaga said his company has incurring losses of about Ush12 billion ($4.8 million) per month since it started operations last year.

In Kenya, the government is building a series of bypasses around the city as it seeks to limit traffic within the central business district.

The country has just finished works on the 50 Kilometre Nairobi-Thika Superhighway.

The country also plans to upgrade the 53-kilometre Jomo Kenyatta International Airport-Rironi thoroughfare at a cost of Ksh25 billion ($350 million).

READ: Traffic project: World Bank gives Kenya $300m

A section between Nyayo National Stadium and the Museum Hill interchange ­– the city’s main artery from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) — a distance of about 4km is expected to have an elevated road with two lanes on each side.

The stretch will also have additional lanes to accommodate a special bus rapid transport system (BRT) that will run from JKIA to Kikuyu on the outskirts of the city.

The BRT route will be a single carriageway and will run in the middle section of the highway from JKIA to Kikuyu, a town 19 kilometres north of Nairobi.

The JKIA-Rironi road is expected to supplement another planned project known as the Nairobi Metropolitan Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) that will entail the construction of a 167-kilometre exclusive public road and rail transport grid that would link the city centre with key neighbouring towns and municipalities surrounding the city.

The Kenya Railways Corporation says the extended railway line covering 100 kilometres within the Nairobi metropolitan area is expected to be completed within the next three years.

However, motorists and other road users will be charged more under the new effort by the government to raise money for rolling out more railway facilities.

“We are looking at introducing a range of levies such as fuel and taxing heavy trucks to discourage them from using the road and other innovative sources because there will be no funds coming from Treasury,” said Kenya Railways Corporation managing director Nduva Muli.

But still, urban planners will need to rethink the mass transport system. In Nairobi, there are an estimated 50,000 public transport vehicles, most of them 14-seater matatus.

The Kenyan government has banned the registration of new 14-seater matatu’s, hoping to gradually phase them out.

READ: Kenya walks a tightrope over plan to ban 14-seater matatus

It’s a decision that has gone down quite well, with Nairobi now being served by more and more 29-seater public service vehicles.

But it has also brought a new dimension to Nairobi’s traffic madness.

For one, players say the bigger capacity vehicles create traffic jams within the city since the allocated boarding terminus are not spacious enough to accommodate the bigger capacity vehicles.

“The buses are taking up so much space on the allocated boarding berths that there is congestion within the city; indeed, the city is becoming a nightmare for drivers,” said James Kamau, a matatu operator in Nairobi.

But are the solutions coming too late? Some players think they are, but are quick to acknowledge that implementation remains a challenge.

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Problem of urbanisation

“While the infrastructure projects are commendable, it will not come as a surprise if they fall behind schedule. Project implementation has been one of the main challenges to urban planning either because of lack of political good will or in some case economic muscle,” said Silas Kanamugire, the director of transport at Trademark East Africa.

He reckons that urbanisation will be the main challenge to regional cities upgrading their road network.

The World Bank estimates that East Africa is urbanising at an average rate of about 5 per cent and estimates that Kenya’s urban population will double to about 24 per cent by 2025 from 13 per cent of the country’s total population.

In Uganda, the Kampala City Council estimates that its population will triple over the next 10 years. Currently only about 17 per cent of the country’s total population live in urban areas.

The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) estimates that Dar es Salaam and Kampala will provide the largest growth for African cities in the next 10 years.

Nairobi’s population will more than double in the period rising to about six million by 2025.

This means that authorities in these countries will have to factor in a surging population migrating to the city, where on average the EIU estimates people spend 90 per cent more compared with their counterparts in rural areas.

“The focus will be on how fast the authorities can clear the existing road infrastructure backlog to cater for the population,” said Mr Kanamugire.

Additional reporting by Rosemary Mihando and John Gahamanyi