Did you know there is a plan to build a super highway from Kenya to Nigeria? Well according to the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), the Trans-African Highway project between Lagos, Nigeria and Mombasa, Kenya was launched In July 1971, by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). As claimed by NCTTCA on its website, the Trans-African Highway project, was created “as a pilot project to make it possible to draft principles and methods for effective intra-African co-operation in the construction of international highways,”. In other words, it aimed to enable smooth movement of cargo from the Port of Mombasa to the countries through which the road would pass.
The TAH project whose plan is to build a 6,259km highway across six countries across Africa (1,100 kilometres in Kenya, 740 kilometres in Uganda, 1,561 kilometres in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 1,319 kilometres in the Central African Republic (CAR), 1,044 kilometres in Cameroon and 737 kilometres in Nigeria), is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived on the continent of Africa.
The chief executive at NCTTCA Omae Nyarandi says the organisation has already given out its proposals on the road to prospective donors but more than 40 years later however, the project is yet to make any progress that can be regarded as satisfactory. Omae Nyarandi says the lack of satisfactory progress is because while certain sectors of the road have already been done, the missing links need to be filled for the facilitation of the smooth movement of goods. These missing links are the sections within the member states, which are not in good conditions, according to Professor Lievin Chirhalwirwa, the Director in charge of infrastructure development and management.
One section listed as a missing link, is the Mbarara-Kisangani project, a 940km road project with 108 kilometres in Uganda and 760 kilometres in DRC Congo. The NCTTCA has prioritised this key section of the project and is now seeking Sh1.1 billion, to carry out a feasibility study ahead of its construction. NCTTCA’s Chief executive Omae Nyarandi says the cost will be broken down into phases.
NCTTCA in its website says there is a new-found political will and “high level commitments” by the DRC and Uganda governments to develop and upgrade the Northern Corridor road sections of Mbarara-Bushenyi-Kikorongo-Mpondwe-Kasindi-Beni-Komanda-Kisangani road. Mr. Nyarandi says the political will and commitment of the two Northern Corridor Member States (DRC and Uganda) is also a result of a strong and unanimous directive by the 30th sitting of the Northern Corridor Council of Ministers held last August in Mombasa, Kenya.
While information accessible to the general public states that Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya have completed their roads, no clear or specific timeframe for the Trans-African Highway project’s completion is known, only optimism and hope for the project.
As we await eagerly, will the TAH project ever come to fruition? If yes, what will it mean for Africa? And will it be problematic for the immigration and border control bodies of the countries involved? Tell us your thoughts.
