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Kenya: Upgrading Infrastructure is Top Priority
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
COLUMN
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Sam Makinda
As I travelled through Nairobi, the Rift Valley and Western provinces late last month, the issue that troubled me most was the lack of attention to the road network and other transport facilities. Why has the Kenya government neglected the transport infrastructure in several parts of the country to this extent?
The transport infrastructure, which includes roads, railways, airports and sea ports, plays a key role in the generation of the country's wealth. It is crucial for trade between different parts of the country, important for agricultural development, good for the effective management of the environment and vital for human empowerment.
Whatever economic, social or political activity one chooses to engage in, little can be achieved without an efficient and convenient transport infrastructure.
Indeed, the development of a first-rate transport system is a prerequisite, not just for economic growth, but also for security, education and access to health care.
In the past few weeks, the Kenya government, some UN agencies and non-governmental organisations have raised alarm about a possible food shortage in the country. While the food crisis has been generated by global factors, in this country it has been exacerbated by a poor, neglected and dilapidated transport infrastructure. Without good transport facilities, Kenya's agricultural producers have been compelled to operate at below capacity.
Moreover, travelling from one part of Nairobi to another during working time can take several hours, which would otherwise be used for productive work. The roads in several parts of the city, which were constructed in the colonial days when Nairobi had a handful of cars, have not been improved since Independence 45 years ago. Let us hope the new Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development will do something to improve mobility in the capital city.
The amount of fuel Nairobi motorists use would decrease considerably, the country would spend fewer foreign reserves on the oil bill and Kenya's environment would improve, if there was a more efficient transport network in the city. A modern transport system would reduce the costs of industrial production, increase Kenya's international competitiveness and encourage foreign investments.
The parts of Kenya I visited might be just form a tip of the iceberg as far as decrepit infrastructure is concerned. It is possible other regions of the country have poorer roads than those I saw between Nakuru and Bungoma, between Kisumu and Kakamega, and between Kisumu and Nakuru.
In Kenya, as elsewhere on the continent, agriculture is crucial for political stability, development and international trade, and this is so partly because agricultural produce can be transported from one point to another.
Unfortunately, due to corruption, cronyism, nepotism and misguided policies in the past few decades, much of Kenya's transport infrastructure has remained poor and antiquated.
The challenge for Kenya's leaders, especially President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is to invest more heavily in the construction and maintenance of an efficient transport infrastructure.
Such a transport system should be geared towards facilitating the transformation of rural areas, stimulating agricultural production, encouraging small and medium enterprises, and providing opportunities for urban renewal in Nairobi and other major towns.
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Makinda is the Chair of Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies, Murdoch University, Australia.
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