As Bad As It Gets: Transport Infrastructure In The Central African Republic

Central African Republic Development Partner Consultation | Brussels 26 June 2007

Sector note1

Transport 1. Current situation The countless constraints on the development of the landlocked Central African Republic (CAR) are mainly related to its immense size and low population density: 623,000km² for a population of 3,895,139 inhabitants (December 2003), or 6 inhabitants per square kilometre. CAR shares borders with five countries: Sudan to the East, Chad to the North, Cameroon to the West and the Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo to the South. CAR straddles two large climate zones, the sahelian in the north and the equatorial in the south. The country has a tropical climate with a rainy season from May to October and a dry season from November to April. The climate is equatorial in the south, intertropical in the west and sub-sahelian in the north with a dry season that may last 8 to 9 months. The external isolation can be explained by the remoteness of the country from sea ports (the nearest port, Douala in Cameroon, is nearly 1,500 km by road from Bangui). This isolation is exacerbated by the numerous administrative checks that punctuate the journey and lead to increased transport costs, which accentuate the need for a more efficient transport infrastructure. The country’s internal isolation is characterized by insufficient infrastructures (roads, waterways and airports), which are scattered haphazardly across CAR’s vast territory and which are usable only a relatively short period per year, as the rainy season may be longer than the dry season. As a result, the movement of agricultural products from zones of production towards zones of consumption, and access to national and international markets is difficult. Because of the Central African Republic’s landlocked position, the problems of transport infrastructure must be given priority in order for the economic situation to improve. With regard to trade: i) approximately 600,000 tonnes of imports and exports are transported by road between the Central African Republic and its regional neighbours; ii) the waterways, especially the Oubangui, which in the 1970s served as the main route for imports and exports with an annual traffic of 600,000 tonnes now account for only 62,000 tonnes during the eight months of the year that the waterways are in use; (iii) air travel accounts for approximately 60,000 passengers and 5,000 tonnes of freight each year.

State of infrastructures The road network is 24,307 km. It consists of: • 5,376 km of national roads, of which: − Approximately 700km are surfaced thanks to funding from Japan and the European Union, many sections nevertheless require targeted renovations and the network is in a general state of disrepair since 8 years

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Translation of the “Fiche d’information - Transport”

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007

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Sector note | Transport

− In the context of restoration of the Bangui – Garoua Boulaï axis, the Bouar – Garoua Boulaï section (155km) will be surfaced with bitumen in 2008-2010, paid for by joint funding from the European Union (73km), the World Bank (27km) and the African Development Bank (54km). The Baoro – Bouar section, currently unpaved, is submitted to the Development Partners for the financing of its conversion. Aid has been requested from Japan. − Approximately 2,200 km of unpaved roads can currently be maintained with the resources of the Fonds d’Entretien Routier (FER). To this comes a further 300 km that are maintained in partnership with logging companies. − In 2006 and 2007, 200km of unpaved roads were renovated using funds from the European Union (2006) and 80km in 2007 (Fonds d’Entretien Routier). • 3,761 km of regional roads with no government intervention, except some construction works by logging companies on the road of the 4tth parallel, and a European Union funded project on the Berbérati – Nola – Bayanga segment. • Approximately 15,000 km of country tracks, more than 80% degraded as a result of the discontinuation of agricultural projects and development agencies’ activities under the auspices of the Ministry of Rural Development. Engineering works and waterway crossings Transport links on national highways are secured by permanent works in various conditions. On the rest of the network, however, the 450 semi-permanent bridges (wood floored) that are supposed to allow crossings along the country tracks, the unrepaired main roads or minor roads, are for the most part insufficient to support any traffic, after years without maintenance. 51 ferries throughout the country, of which 29 are ordinary, 15 have a motor winch and 7 are selfpropelled, providing poor quality service due to the lack of spare and replacement parts and tools for maintenance and repair.. The means The budget of the Fonds d’Entretien Routier, only 2.5 billion FCFA, is by far insufficient to fund regular maintenance of the road network. If the network were in good condition, an estimated 10 billion FCFA per annum would be needed for maintenance. For the period 2008-2010, the FER allocation is planned to increase to 4 billion FCFA per annum. Beyond these resources, the government depends entirely on funding from external sources. Such funding is at present limited to: (i) the Bouar – Garoua Boulai road, (ii) institutional sectoral support from the European Union, (iii) funds for the Office National du Matériel and (iii) approximately two (2) billion FCFA proposed by the World Bank and the European Union for the periodical maintenance of paved and unpaved roads, (iv) financing from the African Development Bank for a study of the renovation of paved arterial roads, in particular the existing main corridor. Waterways remain an important and indispensable aspect of CAR’s effort to mitigate its relative isolation. However, the use of CAR’s network of navigable rivers remains very restricted, as only 2,067 out of nearly 5,000 km are useable, and only for parts of the year. 1,195 km of that distance constitute the Bangui-Brazzaville corridor. The port infrastructures, mainly the ports of Bangui and the port of Sãlo, have obsolete equipment that requires overhauling. Funds from the European Union and from the AFD have allowed some improvement of the infrastructures and equipment of the Société Centrafricaine de Transport Fluvial. It includes EUR 4 Million for the renovation of fixed dockside installations and naval construction sites in Kolongo, and the acquisition of 2 hydrocarbon barges. The capacity of the waterways sector will be progressively increased as capacity of the merchant fleet expands. Other initiatives are in progress, Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007

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Sector note | Transport

including support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has given the 3 states along the Congo river (CAR, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo) a subsidy of 900 million FCFA for investments in river maintenance. The fundamental problems regarding transport by waterway remain the following: i) seasonal navigability only 7 to 8 months out of 12; ii) permanent silting up of the river beds and iii) the uncertainty of the road and rail networks for non-petrol traffic. In this context there should be plans for (a) regular sand dredging operations in the Oubangui and the Congo (b) building of a level-control barrier on the Oubangui upstream of Bangui (in Zawara, Palambo or Longo) to make it navigable 11 to 12 months of the year, (c) programming of the renovation of waterway transport equipment, (d) arrangements for service by waterway for populations situated upstream of Bangui by safe and modern means of transport. Out of 42 airport facilities only four runways are surfaced (Bangui, Berberati, Bobangui and Avakaba). The other 38 runways are unpaved. The majority of these airstrips are currently out of service. The Bangui-M’Poko airport was brought into service in 1967. The top layer of the runway was last reinforced in 1987. This one airport, which currently allows the external opening up of the Central African Republic by air travel, is in immediate need of (i) expansion, refitting of the hangars and renovation of safety and security systems, (ii) works to reinforce the runway surface and, (iii) construction of a fence around it. Progress towards ending internal isolation in CAR is severely hampered by the lack of safe and functioning airports in most parts of the country. Faced with this situation, the government undertook reforms designed to promote the free circulation of persons and goods throughout the country. To this end, the government initiated and executed two sectoral transport programmes (PST1 and PST2), the first running from 1990 to 1996 and the second from 2001 to the present.

2. Challenges to be met • Mobilize financial resources, in the very short term, to enable programming of priority investments, conduct of technical studies, and preparation of tenders for a road reconstruction programme for the national and regional road networks • Reinforce the institutional framework for the management of the sector to ensure realization of investments and to supervise maintenance and repair • Mobilize external financing to maintain infrastructure for international integration, and initiate national integration The main challenge is that, without resources for the technical realization of projects for infrastructure renovation, an investments programme will necessarily be limited initially to simple renovation operations of unpaved roads and periodic maintenance of bitumen-surfaced roads.

3. Vision, strategic results and strategy Given all these difficulties and bearing in mind the importance of the sector for the development of the country, the current and permanent challenge for the government consists in promoting free circulation of persons and goods. The vision for the transport sector is thus: “between now and 2015 the country, opened up both internally and externally, will have at its disposal a coherent integrated framework for the management and operation of transport infrastructures”.

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007

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Sector note | Transport

To obtain these results, the concerns of the government centre around two main strategic areas: i) reinforcement of the institutional framework; ii) renovation, construction and viability of transport infrastructures. To this end the government intends to:

Objective I Reinforce the capacities of the sector: technical ministries, the Fonds d’Entretien Routier (FER), the Office National du Matériel (ONM), the Bureau d’Affrètement Routier Centrafricain and institutions in charge of the water transport sector and airports. Reinforce existing financial sources for the sector: the Fonds d’Entretien Routier; the Bureau d’Affrètement Routier Centrafricain, the Fonds de Développement des Transports par Voie d’Eau (FDTVE) for waterway traffic; the Fonds Aéronautiques for the air sector. However, the projected additional resources from these sources are not likely to meet the challenges of the sector.

Objective II Overcome external and internal isolation. Beyond the measures outlined above, this strategy cannot be executed without being virtually entirely funded by additional resources. Subject to the progressive availability of such resources, the strategy would be organized around:

Road sector Overcoming external isolation To overcome the external isolation of the Central African Republic special emphasis will be placed on the bitumen coating of regional axes roads towards the borders with neighbouring states. • CAR – Cameroon link − Bangui – Baoro – Bouar – Garoua Boulaï axis (Cameroon border) − Bangui – Boda – Yamando – Nola – Nianti axis (Cameroon border) • CAR – Chad link − Bangui – Sibut - Kaga Bandoro – Sido axis (Chad border) − Bangui – Bossembélé – Bossangoa – Bekay axis (Chad frontier) • CAR – Congo link − Bangui - M’baïki axis (Congo border going towards Enyelle) • Other CAR – DRC link − Sibut – Bambari – Bangassou axis (DRC border) • Other CAR – Sudan link − Bambari – Birao – AM – Dafock axis (Sudan frontier) Over-coming internal isolation • Securing of engineering works • Maintenance and repair of the national network • Repair of the network of regional and rural roads

Waterways sector • Revitalization of the Oubangui-Sangha route as an exit route from CAR.

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007

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Sector note | Transport

Air sector • Secure Bangui-M’Poko’s compliance with international standards • Secure Berberati (in western CAR) airport’s compliance with international standards • Rehabilitate nine airports to cover the whole territory of CAR • Provide satisfactory meteorological and air traffic control data for the country

4. Operational actions In order to implement an ambitious programme for the renovation of infrastructures, the government has agreed to undertake operational actions organized around the following axes: (a) Reinforcement of the institutional framework; improvement of the institutional structures and managerial capacities in charge of the sector’s resources, and policy formulation and implementation. The government already has identified partners at its disposal: the European Union, the ADB, and the World Bank. Subject to supplementary resources, these structures should, among other things, set up a system of information on the state of infrastructures and harmonize the regulation of transport with the sub-regional and international rules. (b) Mobilization of existing departmental resources for the technical study of transport infrastructures: i) studies of renovation work on unpaved roads and periodical maintenance of bitumen-surfaced roads, and ii) engineering works on regional links. This process is already underway for the maintenance works financed by the World Bank and the European Union, in addition to the bitumen-coating of the Bouar – Garoua Boulaï section. (c) Search for financing for the period 2008-2010 for i) studies on the bitumen-coating of international axes and towards waterway and air transport infrastructures; ii) the realization of an emergency programme between 2008-2010 on earth roads and engineering using the resources cited in point II). (d) Provided that the financing is obtained, renovation and construction of the main international and internal axes linking the major towns of the country; revitalization of navigable waterways (Oubangui, Sangha); elaboration of an emergency investment programme for earth roads and engineering works In the absence of any funding in these sectors, the situation of the Central African Republic will remain precarious and stationary, if not worse, as current resources available to the government are insufficient for meeting the challenge of poverty.

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007

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