Roads in East Africa + Adjacent Islands

[Jhoan Seb]

Well, this year has started chaotically. Usually, when I look for news about paving, it's generally about how to improve recent infrastructure. But this is the first time I've seen an entity actually try to destroy a road on purpose with no intention of replacing or repairing it in the future.


- From (https://archive.ph/2JrMf)

For years, the UAE has effectively controlled the Yemeni island of Socotra following the civil war ravaging the mainland, but in December 2025, they effectively left the island, taking with them the pavement they had laid to supposedly help the local population of the island.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/zanzibar/zanzibar-inaugurates-its-first-flyover-5318218
On a less depressing note, Zanzibar has opened its first flyover with the help of Chinese engineers.

[Jhoan Seb]

I've seen an entity actually try to destroy a road on purpose with no intention of replacing or repairing it in the future.


- From (https://archive.ph/2JrMf)

Fact-checking the post:
The original photo was taken by Abdullah Badahen, a journalist based in Socotra. He took the photo in Jan 3 of 2026. The image was taken around the RR-01 Highway near Hadibu (https://maps.app.goo.gl/N5S4X8wxXTiFhq3X7). The picture was featured in a segment by TV Yemen Shabab

[Jhoan Seb]

According to the report, Rwanda constructed a total of 33,370 kilometers of roads over the past five years. This represents an average of 6,674 kilometers annually, covering both paved and unpaved road networks nationwide.

Per: https://agaciropress.com/rwanda-road-construction-statistics/

Rwanda released a new report on paving, highlighting significant improvements in Nyagatare in the east of the country. It seems that current mission of the DOT is paving all the main and regional roads across all the districts.

[kphoger]

Rwanda ... current mission of the DOT is paving all the main and regional roads across all the districts.

Poking around on the map, I see that more of the main roads are paved than I expected already.

[Jhoan Seb]

Poking around on the map, I see that more of the main roads are paved than I expected already.

Rwanda is an interesting country despite the unfortunate events of the 1990s and the ongoing conflict in Goma supported by certain factions of the government.

When the country gained independence, the capital had only 6,000 inhabitants. I have a friend in Europe whose father was sent on a diplomatic mission to provide aid to refugees. In 1989, there were only a few paved avenues in Kigali, and only the NR3 was paved. It was Rwanda's main link to global trade through the Mombasa corridor that connects Uganda and Kenya.

Fast-forward to today, and most of the roads in the country are paved. Although the Eastern part of the country has more road density due to being mostly flat, meanwhile the Western part is really hilly.

[kphoger]

My impression is based on little tidbits sent home from a former acquaintance from church in the early 2000s, who moved to Rwanda with her husband as Christian missionaries.  I think they may have been in a small town, and I'm sure a lot of infrastructure improvements have been done since then, but it still colors my imagination.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://ntv.co.ug/business/progress-of-new-road-in-yumbe

Apparently, the Japanese government, through JICA, is investing in infrastructure in northern Uganda.

So far, I have researched two roads connecting Uganda with South Sudan:
- https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/A8_(Uganda)
- https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/A6_(Uganda)

https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/A5_(Uganda) (Also the A5 Road is getting rehabilitated)

https://x.com/babatvuganda/status/2009593392444150251

[Chris]

JICA tends to invest in smaller infrastructure projects, such as road paving or individual bridge construction, from a development aid perspective.

Southern and Eastern Africa has seen some of the world's earliest extradosed bridges outside of Japan for that reason. The design was developed in Japan, and incorporated in a number of JICA projects.

This is in contrast to the megaproject approach of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, which have pushed debt to unsustainable levels in a number of countries. It turns out that if you shower countries with no credit rating with billion dollar projects, you might not see that money paid back.

Another issue of BRI road projects are tolled expressways with tolls that most people cannot afford, such as in Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda.

[Jhoan Seb]

Ethiopia is outsourcing all its expressways to China. Last year, they approved the construction of the Mieso-Dire Dawa Expressway, which aims to provide a faster route than the current one, which is the A10. (This is the first article I wrote about Ethiopia for Aaroads)

https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/347208.html

[kphoger]

Another issue of BRI road projects are tolled expressways with tolls that most people cannot afford, such as in ... Ethiopia ...

Ethiopia is outsourcing all its expressways to China.

hmmmmm...

[Plutonic Panda]

JICA tends to invest in smaller infrastructure projects, such as road paving or individual bridge construction, from a development aid perspective.

Southern and Eastern Africa has seen some of the world's earliest extradosed bridges outside of Japan for that reason. The design was developed in Japan, and incorporated in a number of JICA projects.

This is in contrast to the megaproject approach of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, which have pushed debt to unsustainable levels in a number of countries. It turns out that if you shower countries with no credit rating with billion dollar projects, you might not see that money paid back.

Another issue of BRI road projects are tolled expressways with tolls that most people cannot afford, such as in Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda.

I think China is aware they are not going to receive their money back directly.

[Jhoan Seb]

Another issue of BRI road projects are tolled expressways with tolls that most people cannot afford, such as in Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda.

Yeah, I remember reading some news stories about how the Nairobi Expressway was sold to the general public as an alternative to alleviate traffic, but most people don't use it because of the tolls (https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2022/05/19/kenyas-new-nairobi-expressway-is-popular-its-tolls-not-so-much/).

Although Kenya is more connected to international trade than Ethiopia, it has greater access to more resources. I have been reviewing Ruto's (current president of Kenya) agenda to improve road infrastructure. He proposes projects that have been somewhat controversial, such as the Isiolo-Mandera Road, which had been postponed several times due to insecurity in northeast Kenya. I remember that many people were mocking the fact that his government would try again to pave that road.

https://www.citizen.digital/article/ruto-slams-kenyans-mocking-his-viral-pledge-to-construct-750km-isiolo-mandera-road-n357916



Even so, the government is beginning to diversify its contractors somewhat. Just this month, an American company was commissioned to build the Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway. (https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/fresh-chance-for-us-firm-in-mombasa-expressway-deal-5318690)

[JayhawkCO]

Another issue of BRI road projects are tolled expressways with tolls that most people cannot afford, such as in Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda.

Yeah, I remember reading some news stories about how the Nairobi Expressway was sold to the general public as an alternative to alleviate traffic, but most people don't use it because of the tolls (https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2022/05/19/kenyas-new-nairobi-expressway-is-popular-its-tolls-not-so-much/).

Yeah, then I was there briefly, the expressway was barely used whereas the frontage roads were packed.

[Chris]

Kenya had also planned to upgrade A8 from Mau Summit to Nairobi to an expressway / motorway. They initially hired a French company to construct it as a toll road, but they were booted from the contract once they published their toll rates, which the Kenyan government considered to be unaffordable.

And they were probably right, while the construction cost in Kenya is lower than in western countries, it's not 90% lower, and thus toll rates need to match the construction cost and interest payments. This makes toll roads essentially infeasible in low-income countries: either the toll rates are too high and usage is too low, or the usage is higher, but the toll rates too low to pay it back. In these cases, a middle ground cannot be found.

Another way is to find alternative funding sources (taxpayer money). They're now going ahead as a Chinese project, but they have shifted the liabilities to their national pension fund, which might be a bad idea if toll roads are inherently infeasible.

The same problems were seen with the planned Nairobi - Mombasa toll road. These cities are far apart with almost no economic activity in between, so it is infeasible as a toll-funded project. It needs significant funding from the general budget to be built. But that's difficult if the debt levels are already too high.

[kphoger]

This makes toll roads essentially infeasible in low-income countries: either the toll rates are too high and usage is too low, or the usage is higher, but the toll rates too low to pay it back. In these cases, a middle ground cannot be found.

In Mexico, when the toll road was built between Monterrey and Saltillo about a decade and a half ago, the initial plan was to prohibit trucks from using it, as a way of making it more free-flowing for passenger cars.  But then it was decided to allow trucks, and I have to imagine that that decision was made at least in part because of how much toll money they would have missed out on.

[Jhoan Seb]

These cities are far apart with almost no economic activity in between, so it is infeasible as a toll-funded project.

The port of Mombasa is basically the only access Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda have to maritime trade. The reason why the NR3 in Rwanda was the first to be paved was because of the corridor to Mombasa, so that the country could access goods brought in by ship. The problem is that much of the A8 between Mombasa and Nairobi is congested because it cannot handle so much traffic from Highland Kenya and the three landlocked nations. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34867935) It also doesn't help that this section is located in a semi-desert area, so that's the reason why there's no much economic activity in between.

The A8 in Kenya is a route that basically carries a lot of weight. There are also proposals in Uganda to create an expressway from Kampala through Jinja to the Kenyan border. (https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/business/article/2001532471/new-kenya-uganda-expressway-gets-regional-greenlight)

[Plutonic Panda]

Tanzania investing almost a billion dollars for the upcoming year in its roads:

https://www.globalhighways.com/news/tanzanias-965-million-infrastructure-budget