The region of the Kagera River Basin occupies landlocked territory shared by four states: Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.  As well as being isolated the region is also remote, lying 1000 km from the Indian Ocean and 1900 km from the Atlantic Ocean. The only existing link to the sea is provided by a road network, in precarious condition, which crosses Uganda and Tanzania to connect with the ports of Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam in the east. This situation constitutes a serious obstacle to the socio-economic development of the region. Studies already carried out by the UNDP indicated that a rail network is the best solution to this problem.

The Project defines an integrated transportation system including  about 2.000 km of railways and roads, which connect the Kagera region to the Indian Ocean ports.

The project therefore had the following aims:

• Draw up a detailed and up-to-date picture of the socio-economic situation

• Quantify and evaluate the conditions of the existing transport structures (roads, railways, lake and ocean ports, etc.)

• Identify possible new railway links to the existing lines

• Evaluate which system can guarantee the most immediate economic return whilst ensuring adequate strategic safety and operational flexibility

• Estimate the cost of realisation and draw up possible intervention scenarios.

To this end, through a detailed study of the present socio-economic situation, the current rail transport demand and the demand foreseen for 2000 and 2020 were identified. Accurate evaluations were then made of the efficiency and maintenance of the current transport systems (railways, roads, lake and sea ports) in the four countries occupied by the Kagera Basin, and of present running costs. 

The railways needed to link the main towns in the region with the existing lines, and possible alternative integrated systems, were then identified as follows:

Of all the new railway lines identified a Preliminary Design was drawn up. Furthermore, a Preliminary Design was done for all the upgrading and restructuring of the existing railway lines as well as of the ports on Lake Victoria and on the Indian Ocean considered necessary to ensure the required operating capacity.

It was thus possible to evaluate the investment costs and operating costs of the different networks and, through a socio-economic Feasibility Study, identify the related economic indicators for each system. These evaluations showed that the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the various systems varies from a minimum of 6.2% for the North Corridor to a maximum of 10.3% for the Central Corridor. Finally, for this latter network, which was the solution recommended for implementation, the intervention priorities and investment programme were defined.

The main components of the Project were:

• a socio-economic study to evaluate the traffic demand for different development scenarios;

• a traffic study to evaluate traffic distribution and composition for different traffic modes and corridor hypothesis;

• the preliminary design of the upgrading of existing railways, roads and port facilities;

• the preliminary design of about 1.300 km. of new railway lines;

• a cost-benefit feasibility study of the system by comparing different corridors and networks composition.

The Project was financed jointly by the Italian and Austrian Governments and carried out by Technital association with the Austrian Rail Engineering company (A.R.E.) of Vienna under the auspices of the UNDP.

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