Transport and Economic Growth in Developing Countries: The Case of East Africa

Abstract

The emergence of a viable and efficient system of modern transportation is clearly an essential element in the growing infrastructure upon which the expanding economies of the less developed countries must be based. Many analyses of transport problems in such countries emphasise the specific problems associated with road, rail or sea transport media, and frequently confine discussion either to the economics of transportation or to the geographical disposition of the facilities available. Relatively few studies attempt to view the economic geography of transport networks within an area as a whole, or to examine the nature of the relationship between transport provision and economic growth. These two aspects of transport geography are of vital significance in the less developed countries, especially in view of the need to achieve maximum economies within the development process. East Africa provides an example of an area where rail, road, sea and air transport systems are all reasonably well developed but lack close integration, and where existing networks are currently subject to considerable changes and are, therefore, objects of political and economic attention. This paper attempts to set railway and port systems serving East Africa within the broader context of ideas relating transport development with economic growth.