The main modes of transport in Kenya are road, railway, air, sea and pipeline for oil and other petroleum products. While motor vehicles dominate road transport, increasingly, bicycles (known as boda boda) are becoming a common means of transport in both rural and urban areas.

Effective and efficient transport is predicated on good infrastructure – roads, airports and port. Kenya’s transport sector scores poorly in terms of infrastructure. Most road networks and the rail system are in poor condition due to years of neglect while the inland water transport, especially on Lake Victoria, is more or less collapsed. The port of Mombasa, which provides the entry point for sea transport and serves East Africa, the Great Lakes and Sudan, is doing quite following the reform of the Kenya Port Authority through effective management.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport continues playing a central role in East and Central Africa as hub for international travel. With the recovery of tourism sector, air travel records good business and has a brighter future. Nonetheless, the airport and others across the country require major expansion and reorganisation to cope with the emerging demands.

By and large, the various transport sub-sectors, except railways, showed good signs of growth in terms of outputs. There was general increase in cargo freights by road, air and sea. The growths arose due to infrastructure improvements, as well policy and legal reforms across the sectors. However, rising fuel costs, poor infrastructure and depreciation of the Kenyan shilling slowed down the growth margins.

Overall, the transport sector realised a 75 per cent growth in 2005, which in practical terms translated into earnings worth KSh300 million, about 10 per cent of the economy.
Road transport
Road transport is the most popular means of communication in Kenya. The country has a road network of 63,292 kilometres of classified roads. Of this, 8,938 is made of bitumen while 54,354 is gravel and earth. About 115,000 kilometres of the road network is not classified.

The Ministry of Roads and Public Works through the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) is principally in charge of road construction and maintenance. However, the urban councils maintain roads within their areas of jurisdiction. Funds used for road maintenance is generated from the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund, which is collected through fuel outlets, and also from Transit Tolls. According to the Roads Board, the country requires KSh140 billion to rehabilitate the existing roads, put up new ones and maintain the entire network. To realise this, the government has entered into negotiation with development partners and there is likelihood that some KSh70 billion could be realised through donor support by the end of 2006. On its part, the board expected to realise Sh9.5 billion from the fuel levy and road tolls in the 2005/6 financial year. If the board can get the funds it needs and puts the entire road network in good condition, then it would only need Sh15 billion annually for maintenance.

One of the significant reforms in the road maintenance is that funds are channelled through constituencies on the basis of population. This is unlike in the past when the funds were disbursed through the district roads departments. Under the new arrangement, members of constituency roads committees decide, through consultation with the residents and all stakeholders, on the roads to be developed within their areas. Not only does this ensure that the funds reach the targeted areas, but also gives people the chance to make decisions on the roads they want developed.

© Camerapix

Even then, the government’s grand programme of rehabilitating major roads, concessioning some parts and building by-passes, especially across Nairobi, is yet to take off. Rehabilitation of Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba Highway, which is the main road artery in the country and a link to the landlocked countries in the neighbourhood namely Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been too slow.

In regard to road use, many changes have been witnessed since 2004 when the government introduced road safety rules that provided for a reduction of the number of people carried in public vehicles, limited their speed and weeded out crooks who had created disorder in public transport. Among the spin-off of the changes was the substantive reduction in the number of road accidents. For example, the number of deaths through accidents reduced from 3000 in 2003 to 1400 in 2004 and 1000 in 2005.

Railway
Rail transport is the second most important mode of transport after road and offers the best alternative for transporting bulky produce for both local and export markets. Kenya Railways works closes with the Kenya Ports Authority and the airports in transportation of bulk commodities. However, the Kenya Railways has not been operating at its full capacity.

It is for this reason that the government had embarked on a process of concessioning the railway so that it can be operated more effectively. The concessioning deal being done jointly with the Uganda government was signed early in 2006 paving the way for divesting of the public resources from the establishment to private hands for at least 25 years. It is expected that the concessioning would turn around the rail transport and put it on the path to profitability.

At the same time, there are plans to extend the railway line to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia to reap from the opportunities being offered with the ongoing reconstruction in those countries after years of political and economic instability.

© Camerapix

Some of the challenges facing rail transport are old locomotives, low transport costs that its makes it difficult for the corporation to make profits and high operational costs. The rail line itself is aging and because of lack of funds, it has not been repaired in recent years.

Marine transport
Water transport is mainly popular for bulky and heavy goods. The main water transport is through the Mombasa port that is managed by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The port serves a number of landlocked countries in Eastern, Central and Horn of Africa. Given its centrality in the region, the government has been undertaking a number of changes at the port to increase its efficiency and promote regional trade. The changes include improving port services, lowering costs of port use and expediting cargo movement. Also included in the reform is reducing the number of days required to clear goods at the port from four to one to avoid congestion of containers.

KPA has been working on a master plan that seeks to transform the port into a landlord port that will allow more private sector participation in such areas like container terminal, bulk goods handling and conventional cargo. Between 2004 and 2005, the government put in some KSh5 billion for requipping the port, including installing new cranes and tugboat in a programme to modernise port operations.

As part of the process of strengthening water transport, the government has set up a maritime authority whose task will mostly be to provide rescue operations in case of emergency. Setting up of the authority has been greatly supported by the International Maritime Organisation.

The other means of water transport is through Lake Victoria. Currently, the lake only operates a local ship service unlike in the past when there was a regional service involving Uganda and Tanzania. For the past two years, a lot of efforts have been made to restore the regional lake transport, which will go long away to boosting trade among the East African countries.

Air transport
Air transport largely serves tourists, conference and business travellers as well as high-value exports and imports, mostly perishable goods like horticulture products. Kenya has a number of airports, with JKIA being the biggest and busiest. There are two other international airports – Mombasa and Eldoret. While Mombasa airport does fairly well due to high number of tourists, Eldoret airport has not picked up very well. It operates below capacity, as it does not have many regular international flights. The other major airport is Kisumu, which serves local travellers. There are other airports that mostly operate small aircraft, like Wilson, which is popular for chartered planes.

Since 2004, the government has embarked on a number of activities to improve efficiency in aviation sector. These include liberalising domestic local travel to allow independent air companies to compete with the Kenya Airways. The establishment of the Kenya Airport Authority to manage all the airports has created order in the sector. Significantly, the government is embarking on a major project to expand and rehabilitate JKIA, Kisumu Airport and other small ones like one at Isiolo in Eastern Province.

Rehabilitation and expansion of JKIA was expected to begin in 2006 at a cost of KSh8 billion. The World Bank had also agreed to put in an additional US$10 million for the programme. The expansion plan involves giving a facelift to the terminal, which can no longer accommodate the large numbers of travellers, as well as modernisation of the runway. A new and modern travellers’ lounge, as well as relocation of the duty free shops are part of the expansion plan. The taxiway and the cargo handling facility will also be expanded.

Kenya Airways JKA. © Camerapix

Conclusion
The government continued to invest quite significantly in transport sector, which in turn also brought in good returns. Earnings from transport in 2005 were quite impressive, about 10 per cent of the national kitty, underscoring the sector’s critical role in the country’s economic growth. It is not lost, though, that transport infrastructure was in poor shape and that militated against efforts to provide efficient and reliable means of communication. Improving and expanding the road networks, however, requires large sums of money and that requires that the government enter into partnerships with private investors to raise the necessary funds.

While the sea and air transport continue to perform quite well, there are concerns that their potentials have not been maximised. The current rehabilitation and expansion programmes going at the JKIA and other airports, there-fore, are welcome as they offer new opportunities for boosting trade. Similarly, the concessioning of the Kenya Railways offers a window of hope that the erstwhile non-performing corporation will undergo transformation and be put on the path of profitability through enhanced service delivery.