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Distr.: LIMITED
RCID/WG/03/97 September 1997
ENGLISH
Original: English
Economic Commission for Africa
Meeting of the UNTACDA II — =^=^==^^=^^=
Sub-Sectoral Working Group
24 September 1997 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
ECA'S PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE ROADS ANO ROAD TRANSPORT SUB-SECTOR PROGRAMME IN THE SECONO UNITED NATIONS TRANSPORT ANO COMMUNICATIONS
DECADE IN AFRICA {1991-2080}
FCA388.1(6)063
£175
Introduction
1. The roads and road transport sub-sectoral working group held five meetings during the period 1989 and 1992. It will be recalled that the first four meetings were held during the preparatory phase. The fifth meeting was held from 16 to 17 October 1992 in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia. The meeting was attended by the World Bank, ILO, UNDP and ECA. CIDA attended the meeting as an observer.
2. A work programme was agreed upon during the fifth meeting. The programme focused on (i) dissemination of the UNTACDA II strategy; (ii) monitoring of the implementation of the Decade programme: (iii) capacity building particularly in relation to the establishment of Road Associations; (iv) road safety; (v) transport facilitation; (vi) infrastructure development.
3. A budget for undertaking the above mentioned programme in 1993 estimated at US$500,000 was drawn up. Unfortunately, no funds were made available for the implementation programme. Furthermore, the World Bank informed members that due to its restructuring exercise it would not be able to continue to be a team-leader of the
group.
4. It was observed that all sub-sectoral working groups were very active during the UNTACDA II preparatory phase. However, after the launching of the programme in 1991 the activities of most of the working groups in support of the programme fell to a dismal low. The reason for this was attributed to lack of funding despite the recommendation that all activities pertaining to the Decade should be included in the regular programmes of the members of the working groups.
5. Notwithstanding the above, their participation and support of the Decade
programme is still highly sought.
6. ECA in its capacity as lead agency for the UNTACDA II programme took over the chairmanship of the roads and road transport working group. An attempt was made by ECA to implement the work programme drawn by the group in its regular budget activities. A progress report on ECA's address of the work programme is given below. The report covers ECA's activities only as a member of the working group. The working group leader's report will be a summation of the reports to be
presented during this meeting.
RCID/WG/03/97 Page 2
Dissemination of the UNTACDA II strategy through workshops (i) The joint organization of workshops with ESAMI on:
(a) the design and management of national road safety
programmes;
(b) transport sector performance;
(c) rural travel and transport.
(ii) Participation in the ECOWAS sensitization seminar for land transport operators, security agents and customs officials on the implementation of ECOWAS Transport Decisions and Protocols.
(iii) Participation in the SATCC working group meeting for road infrastructure, road transport and traffic.
(iv) Organization of the Third African Road Safety Congress in collaboration with OECD and other partners;
(v) Organization of the road maintenance initiative seminars for SADC and COMESA subregions;
(vi) Participation in the IRF regional conference on African Highways
- the road ahead.
7. The major publications produced by ECA and disseminated to member States during this period are given below:
(a) The development of a standardized maintenance management system;
(b) The role of UNTACDA II in the development of the African
construction industry;
(c) A review of transit charges in the various subregions;
(d) Pedestrian and child safety in urban areas.
(e) Guidelines for the setting up of:
• National Road Safety Councils
• National and Regional Road Associations
8. ECA also produced the following documents:
(a) The statutes of the Trans-African Highway Bureau;
(b) The project document for the African Road Data Base in collaboration
with IRF.
9. ECA participated in various meetings and fora where the UNTACDA II programme strategies were being implemented. Of particular note to this effect is the assistance to COMESA (PTA) and ECOWAS in the development of a rationalised framework for the determination and collection of transit charges.
The monitoring of the implementation of the Decade programme
10. A programme has been put in place through the preparation of a report on the status of the implementation of UNTACDA II approved projects for presentation to the meetings of the Conference of African Ministers of Transport and Communications.
The report as of now gives an overall analysis of the projects. It is proposed that a sectoral analysis on project implementation be undertaken. From the global analysis 456 projects have been monitored of which 149 belong to the road sector. From a financial point of view US$2 million have been secured out of a total requirement of US$3.1 million for this sector.
Capacity building
11. ECA initiated the re-activation of the Trans-African Highway Bureau whose responsibilities would be, inter-alia, to assist member States in the development of their road and road transport programmes and in the coordination of programme implementation by the various Trans-African Highway Authorities and Coordinating Committees. So far, the following countries have appended their signature to the statute of the Bureau: Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Kenya and Morocco have since ratified the statutes. Uganda, although it has neither signed nor ratified the statutes, has paid US$49,280 towards the functioning of the Bureau.
12. In support of the above programme, ECA has developed guidelines for the
setting up of national road safety councils and national road associations with assistance from IRF.RCID/WG/03/97 Page 4
Road Safety
13. As mentioned earlier ECA in collaboration with Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) has organized two training workshops on the design and management of national road safety programmes with special emphasis on the introduction of an institutional framework for implementing the programme, counter measures, safety audits and the address of pedestrian and child safety programmes in urban areas.
14. ECA and OECD with support from other partners organized the Third African Road Safety Congress from 14 to 17 April 1997 in Pretoria. The Congress attracted over 300 participants from all over the world with over thirty African countries represented.
The outcome of the Congress identified the need to address the following
pertinent issues:
(a) Development of sustainable policies with road safety enhancement programmes incorporated in them
(b) Adoption of multidisciplinary approach for road safety programme development
(c) Institutional capacity building
(d) Training, education, campaigns and information programme development (e) Cooperation, technology transfer and networking
(f) Developmental research, monitoring and evaluation (g) Data capture and analysis.
The above issues are currently being considered for address in the African Road Safety Initiative.
Transport facilitation
15. As mentioned earlier ECA has undertaken studies and consultations with member States on the implementation of transport facilitation in the road sector. A
review of transit charges in the subregions was made and a methodology for determining and collecting the charges was developed there from.
16. Based on the findings of various studies undertaken by the subregions it may be prudent to introduce corridor audits to assist in the assessment of the operations.
Furthermore. inter-Slate facilitation committees should be set up to oversee corridor operations. Privatization of some elements of this programme such as the management of the transit fees should be considered.
Infrastructure development
17. EC A in the implementation of the Trans-African Highway programme has tried with little success to monitor infrastructure development. This may be attributed to lack of rationalised mechanisms for data capture and analysis in the member States.
There is a need to put in place management information systems to assist practitioners in the implementation of the planning, budgeting and programming of projects and programmes in a coordinated manner.
18. The issue has been partly addressed during the implementation of the phase I of the project on Transport Data Base (Road sector). The needs to develop the methodological principles and harmonization measures related to the collection of data and agreement on definition of terms to be used and indicators for the road and road transport sub-sector were identified.
Which way forward
19. As can be seen from the foregone an attempt has been made to address the themes identified during the last meeting of the working group. In this regard more effort will be required in the setting up of a performance monitoring programme to follow up the progress of actions undertaken. This programme would need the development of a performance matrix which includes each action and the corresponding criteria for drawing up a follow up evaluation exercise.
20. Allocation of responsibilities to the various members of the working group should be clearly defined so that there is no overlap in the implementation of the various activities.
21. It is recommended that all members of the working group include in their regular programme the implementation of UNTACDA II since the extra resources required will be minimal.
