Summary of recommendations
The policy position addresses the issue of transport costs between nine Eastern and Southern African countries and it makes recommendations for decreasing the cost of moving cargo by rail and road while proposing areas for strategic improvements.
Data shows that transport costs in the region are excessively high and this is an impediment to growth and economic development.
To address this, a number of recommendations to policy and decision makers in the region are made in order to ensure further economic development and support increased trade flows.
Therefore, the ESA BMO Network recommends to:
- Reduce the rail transport costs by allowing private operators on the networks and standardise track width in the region
- Reduce the rail turn around time through investments in equipment
- Increase the rolling stock and network capacity
- Decrease the current road transportation costs
