Three East African Countries are not included to any of the Nine African Highways Scheme

Three East African Countries are not included to any of the Nine African Highways Scheme

By Yosief Abraham Z

The 2017 assessment on African highways articulate that Eritrea, Somalia and South Sudan have only to be connected to one of the nine planned African highways by paving feeder roads to neighbor countries. Accordingly, the three aforementioned countries have the responsibility of connecting their local main roads either to Djibouti or North Sudan thus to benefit from future prospective for continental integration.

Still incapacitated in many quarters of the continent by debacles and harmonizing policies, there are groups who question the priority of such trans-continental highways in comparison with urgent national substances. “Internal instability, corruption, dependency on foreign aids and stagnated role of youth have been the main predicaments; of course, addressing these challenges have to be the paths to the intended highway schemes,” elaborate James Mercado, former apprentice at Wuhan Transportation University, from China.

These transcontinental road projects in Africa, developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), and the African Union in conjunction with regional international communities, do not cross to only nine nations in the continent. In addition to the three countries from East Africa, therefore, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Swaziland, are in the list for not to be connected directly to the nine proposed highways.

Wiki News authenticate that these significant trans-highways aim at promoting trade and alleviating poverty in Africa through highway infrastructure development and the management of road-based trade corridors. Since there are not more tangible progresses in asphalting and constructing majority part of the 56,683 km total length of the nine highways, experts comment countries to reinforce their local schemes, a way for continental network.

“Infrastructure is important; but if it is depended more on financial aid from former colonials and new emergent economy powers, it is difficult to be a priority,” Mercado affirms to HorMid Media and Art Center question through facebook messenger.

Reports indicate that the nine trans-continental networks are Cairo-Dakar Highway, Dakar-Ndjamena Highway, Ndjamena-Djibouti Highway, Dakar-Lagos Highway, Lagos-Mombasa Highway, Beira-Lobito Highway, Algiers–Lagos Highway, Tripoli–Windhoek–(Cape Town) Highway and the Cairo–Gaborone–(Pretoria/Cape Town) Highway.

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Yosief Abraham Z is a freelance journalist and Executive Director of HorMid Media and Art Center. You can contact him at Josiabraham29@gmail.com

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