East African Inland Waterways are hardly used, thus placing more pressure on the regional road networks

While the East African Maritime transport is doing very well on the seas, the region’s inland waterways are inadequately utilised.

 “This has resulted in a lot of pressure on our road transportation systems, yet maritime transport is far more efficient, cost effective and climate friendly,” says the Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community, Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth

He noted that apart from lack of sufficient investment in the equipment, a lot needs to be done to improve maritime safety.

Ariik was addressing the 19th Meeting of the East African Community (EAC) Sectoral Council on Transport, Communications and Meteorology held in Mombasa, Kenya.

The liberalisation of the Upper Airspace and reduction of air fares in the region was high on the agenda in addition to consideration of the status of regional programmes and projects under the railways, roads, maritime, communications and meteorology sub-sectors.

Ariik Malueth who is the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sectors, said that the move by the Community towards a seamless airspace is a significant step with the completion of Phase one, which will enable the air navigation systems in the region to be operational.

Partner States are already in agreement to operationalise the EAC Upper Airspace Seamless operations to enable interoperability of their upper air navigation systems.

The Upper Air Space is that space above Flight Level (FL) 245 (24,500 feet).

The East African Community Treaty states that the Partner States shall ‘establish a Unified Upper Area Control system.’

 Liberalisation of air transport services within the region means that nationally registered carriers will be allowed to operate freely within the EAC region.

Ariik urged Partner States to move with speed to complete the remaining phases to ensure the full liberalisation of the air transport sector in the region.

 “We commend Partner States for continuing with the improvements to the airports infrastructure and note that several projects are either planned or ongoing, including international airports at Hoima, Dodoma, Bugesera, Melchior Ndadaye, Juba and N’djili. We particularly congratulate South Sudan for developing their Civil Aviation Act which now awaits Cabinet approval,” said Hon. Ariik.

 “The region is also making progress towards reducing air fares and countries continue to present their views on this issue, which we hope to conclude soon. Related to this, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) being promoted at the African Union level will further ensure that air travel within the continent is made easier,” he added.

So far, only three countries in the region have joined the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) with the EAC urging the remaining countries to expedite the process of joining this important facility.

Partner States were commended for their relentless push to actualise the East African Railways Network connected through the standard gauge railway with Tanzania being hailed for the launch of services between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma.

  “Concurrently, efforts must also be put into the development of an inter-modal transport system, in particular maritime transport, to support the SGR programme. In this regard, the need for a regional maritime transport policy and strategy become pertinent,” he said, adding that the Sectoral Council will discuss these matters in detail.

 The meeting was informed that the Republic of Burundi and the United Republic of Tanzania have since joined the EAC One Network Area, signalling a new era in the region’s push towards the digital economy.

 “We urge the other countries, the two new members in order to make the roaming framework fully effective. Countries are also called upon to support the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project, which aims to advance digital market integration in the Eastern Africa region by increasing affordable access to regional broadband connectivity and strengthening the enabling environment for cross-border digital services,” said Hon. Ariik.

 “We need to remove barriers to regional telecoms infrastructure and services and expand access to connectivity if our region is to remain competitive in the global arena,” he added.

 On meteorology, Hon. Ariik said that there is urgent need for the region to appropriately equip itself with automatic weather stations and to adopt quality management systems, the ISO 9001:2015 for Aeronautical Meteorological Services, in order to cope with climate change and improve safety of air transport.