East Africa Freight Transport: Building Regional Connectivity

Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, expected to nearly double to 2.5 billion people by 2050. The continent represents a vast emerging market with a USD 4.6 trillion GDP and an average growth rate of over 3 %. The region is rich in natural resources, including 30% of the planet’s critical minerals.  

The project explores potential connectivity issues in East Africa to 2060 by evaluating the major regional projects underway and providing recommendations for targeted investments and performance improvements.  

This project marks the first time that ITF’s world-class freight modelling capacity is applied to the East Africa region. Models that have already been successfully used in Central and Southeast Asia will be applied to the African context, improving the resolution of the ITF model and leading to optimal policy advice for Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Regional stakeholder consultations follow a freight transport review and data collection and validation. ITF then builds a scenario to 2060 to assess the effect of current projects. The model simulates varying scenarios to demonstrate how stakeholders can achieve their aims using alternative policies. 

The project outputs provide a unique opportunity for regional stakeholders to assess their current investment planning, validate it and calibrate where necessary.  

Follow-up projects in other African regions are planned.