Arusha — Roads, railways and maritime transportation systems in the EAC region are, on average, in poor state. East African Community (EAC) secretary general Juma Mwapachu, has said even with efforts that seek to address the mega city transport woes are underway, such as the Dar Rapid Transport System and the Nairobi Metropolitan Transport Strategy, escalating costs and unplanned urbanisation could limit the effectiveness of these transport programmes.

Speaking during the official opening a USA-EAC workshop on Developing Sustainable Transport Systems at in Arusha, Mr Mwapachu expressed concern over high road accident rates in the region, where 65 per cent of the fatalities involve passengers in public transport vehicles and pedestrians.

The secretary general noted that conurbations in EAC mega cities such as Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kampala, have huge implications on motorised traffic with the challenge lying in reducing traffic through better transport planning systems which are also environmentally sound.

"These systems must also address the growing special needs of the physically hand capped populations, which is a major policy deficit in the EAC transport systems," Mr Mwapachu pointed out.

He said sustainable mobility cannot be realised without political will and institutional reorganisation at the national levels, remarking that the EAC secretariat was duty-bound to bring forth the results of the workshop to the EAC partner states for review and action.

"Transport sector worldwide is largely energy intensive and consumes a large amount of natural resources, with estimates that road traffic is responsible for about 25 per cent of worldwide emissions of gases," he said.

Mr Mapachu went on: "It is thus crucial that a sustainable transport policy and strategy identifies the relevant environmental, social and economic concerns and tries to strike a correct though delicate balance.

This is a hugely sensitive task, often linked to political overtones especially in the urbanised poor societies such as those in our region."

He lauded the USA-EAC cooperation in transport and infrastructure development, adding that the community was in the process of establishing a US-EAC Council at ministerial level that will develop and agree on projects and programmes which will drive the relationship.

The secretary general noted that the workshop comes in the wake of the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between the US government and EAC.

He said early last year in Kampala, Uganda, EAC, USA-DoT and US Trade and Development Agency, signed a memorandum of understanding, an agreement "that encapsulated the shared resolve by the contracting parties to empower the EAC to achieve deeper economic integration."

Mr Mwapachu said the workshop was yet another example of the fast evolving relationship between the US government and the EAC as it seeks to address one of the key challenges that confront the region, pointing out that its importance was reinforced by the fact that the EAC is on the verge of reaching the threshold of its Customs Union when, from January 1, 2010, all intra-regional movement of goods will be duty free.

The US government representative at the workshop, the political and economic affairs officer at the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Ms Emily C. Shaffer, expressed strong support for efforts of the US Department of Transportation and the EAC secretariat in organising the workshop.

She said: "It is our desire that the ties between the United States the members of the East African Community will continue to expand on every level, for the mutual benefits of our citizens".

Ms Shaffer noted that better roads will enhance abilities of the citizens of the East African Community to capitalize on their individual competitive advantages by trading with neighbours.