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Transportation in Africa

  • East Africa: The Expense Of The SGR And Related Implications

    KENYA, 2015/12/17 It is presently well known that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is being developed under the leadership of the Kenyan government and will connect Mombasa to Malaba (with a branch line to Kisumu) onward to Kampala, Kigali (with a branch line to Kasese) and Juba (with a branch line to Pakwach). What is as well well known is that Ethiopia is developing Ethiopia Rail (ER) which will link Addis Ababa to Djibouti. The importance of the SGR to Kenya is, yes, the potential dividend that will arise from bolstering infrastructure in the country; indeed the government expects the project to reduce freight costs from $0.20 per tn/km to $0.08 per tn/km. But importance as well lies in the fact that the SGR is expensive. Indeed, last week Treasury made the point that the SGR has caused an upwards revision of the fiscal deficit from the initial 7.4% of GDP to 12.2%. So is the approach towards the construction of the SGR the majority cost effective possible? A comparison with the ER would be useful. As early as 2013, experts raised questions about the costing of Kenya’s SGR; Kenya is being charged $6.6 million per kilometer compared to $4.9 million per kilometre for Ethiopia’s ER. This is particularly a concern because, as experts have pointed out, there are no major rivers or lakes or large hills to justify the high cost of the SGR. In addition, parts of the ER will be a double track, not a single track as the SGR will be in its entirety.

  • Ryanair flies to the Red Sea resort of Eilat in southern Israel

    ISRAEL, 2015/12/16 Ryanair could benefit from an expected increase in the number of Russian and Eastern European tourists travelling to sun holidays in Israel as a result of geo-political instability. Turkey and Egypt are entirely off-limits for Russian tourists particularly next the downing of a Russian commercial jet in Egypt, and tensions next a Russian military jet was shot down by Turkish forces last month. About 3.3 million Russians visited Turkey last year, and 2.6 million Russians visited Egypt. Over 500,000 visited Israel.

  • Ethiopian to Order More Airbus Aircraft

    ETHIOPIA, 2015/12/15 Ethiopian Airlines is planning to order additional Airbus A350-900 aircraft in the coming years, it was learnt. Ethiopian placed firm orders for 14 A350-900 aircraft to be delivered between 2016-2019. The initial two which are leased from IFLC (presently Air Cap) will be delivered to Ethiopian in May and June 2016. The remaining 12 due bought from Airbus will be delivered between 2017-2019. The A350-900 test flight aircraft (MSN2) with carbon livery arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday for a demonstration flight. The aircraft conducted a one hour demonstration flight to the South East of Addis Ababa. Workneh Gebeyehu, Minister of Transport, ambassadors, executives of Ethiopian Airlines and other invited guests visited the additional wide body aircraft with a seat capacity of 350. Ethiopian is the initial airline in Africa to order the jetliner in 2009.

  • South Africa: Safety Body Releases Report On Prasa's Afro 4000 Locomotives

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2015/12/15 A statement into the controversial Afro 4000 locomotives has confirmed that they are at times too high for South Africa's railway network, but shows they can still operate without causing any safety issues. The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) published its statement this week into the 13 locomotives imported from Spain by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for R600m. The statement says that with the "exception of locomotive height limitations in certain areas of the network and subject to the highlighted conditions in this statement, the Prasa Afro 4000 series locomotives possess acceptable performance capabilities to operate in the South African network". Prasa was planning to buy 20 diesel Afro 4000 locomotives, plus an extra 50 hybrid ones from Vossloh Espana, for a total of R3.5bn.

  • Moscow bans Egyptian national carrier from flying to Russia

    EGYPT, 2015/11/15 Russia's national aviation agency on Friday banned Egypt's national carrier from flying to Russia, a move that follows the suspension of all Russian flights to Egypt next a deadly crash. Rosaviatsiya on Friday formally notified Moscow's Domodedovo airport, where Egypt Air flights arrive, that the ban is effective starting Saturday, said the airport spokesman Alexander Vlasov. The aviation agency didn't give any immediate reason for the ban on flights. The move follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend all Russian flights to Egypt next the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt that killed all 224 people on board.

  • Boda Bodas Banned From Ferrying Passengers in Nairobi CBD

    KENYA, 2015/11/15 The Nairobi County Government has banned motorcycle operators from ferrying passengers to and from the Central Business District (CBD). In a statement, County Secretary Gregory Mwakanongo stated that the ban takes result instantly and any operator and passenger found contravening the law will be arrested. "Pursuant to the provisions of the Traffic Act CAP 403 of 2014 of the Laws of the Republic of Kenya, the Nairobi City County Government wishes to inform all motorcycle (boda boda) operators ferrying passengers to and from the Central Business District (CBD) that such activities have been banned with immediate result," he stated. "Any operator and passenger found contravening this law will be arrested for an offence punishable by hefty fines and long jail terms as provided for in the Traffic Act of 2014."

  • China Rides the Rails of Ethiopia's Development

    CHINA, 2015/11/15 Ethiopia's Addis Ababa Rail project opened last month to the delight of excited residents of the country's capital. The $475 million urban rail project - funded by China - is one of the majority obvious examples of Beijing's huge role in Ethiopia's infrastructure development. The world's most populous country has as well built dams, roads, and factories in Ethiopia, and even gifted Addis Ababa the African Union headquarters, which cost $200 million. Gedion Gamora, a research fellow at Erasmus Mundus University in the Netherlands, said while the relationship between China and Ethiopia goes back to ancient times, formal relations between the nations began only in 1970.

  • East Africa: Milestone Reached On Ethio-Djibouti Railway

    DJIBOUTI CITY, 2015/11/15 The Ethio-Djibouti Railway Project under construction by two Chinese companies, recently reached an 87pc milestone, said Getachew Betru, CEO of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC). He added that he expects completion in the next few months. The 756Km electric-powered railway connecting the two East African nations has been contracted by China Railway Group (CREC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the former constructing the Sebeta/Addis Ababa to Miesso section and the latter the section from Miesso to Djibouti port. Stating that evolution of the project has been very good, the CEO commended the contractors and parties associated with the project.

  • Best & Worst Airports of 2015

    WORLD, 2015/11/13 Meet the world’s ten most sensational airports! Ranked the best in the world by voters in our 2015 Airport Survey, these chart-topping terminals go above and beyond at the same time as it comes to providing a clean and comfortable travel experience, complete with services and facilities you may not even imagine. Spending time here truly is an experience in and of itself given that airports practically bring the host city to you! With indoor jungles, aquariums, IMAX theatres, spas and an endless number of shops and restaurants, travellers repeatedly talk about being sad to hear the boarding call for their flight. Enjoy!

  • Roads Safe for Children in Africa

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2015/10/10 Marking International Walk to School Day, Jean Todt, the United Nations Appropriate Envoy for Road Safety, has is calling for urgent action to halt road deaths and traffic accidents, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), kill some 500 children a day. Mr. Todt's strong call to action as well herald's the release of a short film by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), where Mr. Todt as well serves as President, which is designed to promote children's road safety across the world. FIA joined forces with renowned filmmaker Luc Besson to produce the hard-hitting film, which is presently available online. "Road traffic crashes are today the number one killer of children aged 15-29. And without urgent action, they will any minute at this time be the number one killer of those aged between 5-14," said Mr. Todt.
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