Sudan Development Program

Transport

One of the major impediments to the economic development of Sudan is its dilapidated transportation infrastructure. With a land mass of over 2.5 million square kilometres and with limited finances, Sudan has struggled to implement the changes required to develop its transport network.

The road network in Sudan is mainly concentrated in the north and east of the country, with a highway linking Khartoum with Port Sudan. There are approximately 4,500 kilometres of narrow gauge railways throughout Sudan, against primarily concentrates in the northern and eastern region but also enjoying links to west and south western towns.

The Nile is the favoured transportation route for moving both passengers and cargo from north to south, with the country’s 60 airstrips (both paved and unpaved) linking its domestic aviation network.

Sudan’s government has looked to tackle the issue through several measures. These include road construction, deemed to be prohibitively expensive at $200,000-$450,000 but currently being provided under a series of Build-Operate-Transfer schemes. The same applies for a number of other costly infrastructure projects, such as the previous proposal for Khartoum International Airport.

The Sudan Railways Corporation has also said that it will privatise its profitable cargo and passenger businesses, with rail extensions such as the one to the Ethiopian rail network said to be financed by international development aid and private equity. Sudan has also recently deregulated its domestic aviation sector, with a many cargo and passenger airlines recently established.

Sudan’s transport ministry has also been keen to improve the river transport sector, with Sudan’s navigable waterways exceeding 5,000 kilometres in length, representing the best and least costly way of connecting the north and south when compared to road and rail construction.

Maritime transportation has also proved to be subject to reform and has been the most successful test case so far. The Sudan Ports Corporation was established in 1974 as an independent maritime body responsible for port and harbour development and maintenance, farming out many of its commercial activities to the private sector.

One of the key reasons for the success of the SPC is Port Sudan, the country’s main cargo terminal located on the Red Sea. The port forms a bottleneck for Sudan’s sea and land traffic, handling at times 80 per cent of Sudan’s total target traffic.

Benefiting from its key location, Port Sudan handles around 5 million tons in cargo traffic per year with a capacity of 8 million tons. Increases in traffic are expected as the port develops. Currently the port has three additional berths under construction, two for container traffic and one for oil exports.

Future plans also include implementing Electronic Data Interchange for faster turnaround and more sophisticated communications systems, at a cost of $5 million.