Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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trade, which rose from 3.6 to 5.5 MT. It can be assumed that almost all of this trade used the
corridor. Thus, the volume of trade on the corridor increased from 8.5 MT to 11.8 MT.
A feature of trading patterns in Africa is the imbalance of imports and export of typically of
around 7:1. Kenya, the most economically progressive and active country in the corridor
imported 20 MT in 2014 but exported less than 3 MT. For transport, the costs of empty
backhaul to the gateway port poses one of the largest costs on trade.
Kenya Uganda railways operated in tandem with the main highways to provide transport
services in the corridor. The 1160 km single-track railway has 1000 mm-gauge and runs from
Mombasa the gateway port through Nairobi, the capital of Kenya to Kampala the capital of
Uganda. The volume of passenger traffic was 3.8 million in 2014, 5% less than the previous
year, but the volume of freight increased from 1.2 MT in 2013 to 1.5 MT in 2014, an increase of
23%. Rail accounts for 20% of corridor freight traffic, almost all of it terminates in Nairobi.
Average rail transit times for the route are between 7 to 9 days, the average operating speed
for the route being just 6 km per hour. Because of this the volume of transit traffic using the
rail route is negligible. To correct this the railway will be entirely reconstructed at the
standard 1,435 mm gauge and new rolling stock purchased.
The entire NTTC road network covers approximately 8,800 km across Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi, and the DR Congo. Approximately 70% of the network is paved. Road
transport is fully liberalized and accounts for 80% of the total transit traffic flow within the
NTTC. Key transit transport routes are from Mombasa to Bujumbura (the South-West
terminus) covering about 2,000 km of road distance, and the Mombasa - Kisangani route which
stretches for about 3,000 km. The bulk of imports and exports destined to and from countries
in the Corridor are transported through either of these transit routes. The width of the main
Northern Corridor road is distributed as follows: dual carriageway (2 x 7m): 104 km (5.1%) 7
m single carriageway: 1,186 km (58.2%) 6.5 m single carriageway: 393 km (19.3%) 6 m single
carriageway: 355 km (17.4%). From Kenya to Uganda, the Mombasa - Malaba - Kampala road
(1,170 km) is preferred due to the relative good quality of the network and availability of
social amenities en route. Transit time averages 10 days. The alternative route is Mombasa -
Kisumu - Busia - Kampala. From Uganda to Rwanda, the principal routes are Kampala -
Kagitumba - Kigali and Kampala - Gatuna - Kigali, Bujumbura in Burundi is reached from
Kampala through Rwanda. Bukavu, Goma and Kisangani are reached from Rwanda and Uganda
as well71. Traffic surveys on critical border sections of the Corridor road network are
presented i
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