“Perfect Harmony; For National Unity” Part I

“Perfect Harmony; For National Unity” Part I

Rahel Asgedom

It’s very difficult to quantify all the developments registered so far in the country over the past 20 years of independence. Today, there is no a single city or village that lacks in access to transportation system to move everywhere. Every city has an inter-urban linkage for transportation services in every corner of the nation. The progress is remarkable. In a symposium that was held from March 02-04 in the town of Mendefera under the theme “Perfect harmony: for national unity”, different research papers were presented as regards the development of transport and communications services since the colonial time.

On the occasion, Minister of Transport and Communications, Regional Administrator, as well as invited guests from every department of the ministry took part at the symposium. On the opening ceremony, the Southern Region branch of the NUEYS staged cultural music performance. An exhibition was opened displaying the development of transport and communications services in various sectors of the ministry.

Minister of transport and communications, Mr. Weldemichael Abraha, said in his opening remark that thanks to the efforts in road construction and the renovation undertaken, effective road network is now in place across the nation. As such the number of routes has increased from 36-215 and that of buses by seven-fold –from 256 to 1,775– resulting to an increase of passenger number from 3 million to 20 million per annum. Similar achievements have been registered in maritime, aviation, and communications services, he emphasized.

In a paper she presented in the symposium, Director General of the Land Transport Department, Mrs. Senait Lijam, recalled that modern land transportation started in Eritrea in the 1930s. She said that coverage of transportation in the year 1991 was 2.5 percent; however, the coverage has now expanded reaching 45.5 percent in 2010, while the number of terminals has increased from 15 in 1991 to 30 in 2010. She also cited a number of strategic road networks and bridges constructed in the past 20 years. The achievement registered so far in land transportation has solved a great deal of the problems. Such an achievement is not an end for a nation which is engaged to build a better tomorrow. The coverage of asphalted roads that had once extended 4,000 km is not to be limited at its present coverage of 14,000 km.

The action plan of the ministry of transport and communications indicate that as facilities of transportation are demand-driven, with the increase of development undertakings, the capacity of transportation systems would also increase accordingly. In the coming five years, 2011-2015, the department of land transport plans to upgrade its capacities in improving vehicles that would be employed to facilitate diverse sectors such as industrial, agricultural, mining, construction and tourism. Hence, renovating and expanding the transportation system, introducing traffic management regulations, structural adjustment of the land transport department, installing modern inspection system and closed circuit camera system (CCTV) among others are out lined in the five-year plan.

The railway system in Eritrea had been exploited for various colonial purposes in different periods of time. The British, Italian and Ethiopian colonizers had played their own part in destroying and constructing the railway system. However, the Ethiopian colonizers destroyed most part of the railway services. The Eritrean government in an attempt to revitalize the railway system that had previously been out of function poised in the wake of independence to reconstruct and renew the railway system. In fact, the rebirth of the Eritrean Railway is a big accomplishment for the government and people of the country, said head of Railways, Mr. Amanuel Gebreselassie, in a paper he presented.

The main reason for extending railway system in Africa during the colonization period was only to transport the natural resources of Africa, as well as to expand their respective military policies in the continent. As such, in the 18th century railway system was constructed in a great length and had played a great role in every period of time. When the British administration colonized Eritrea, no effort was made to renew the railway. Instead, they stole the materials and destroyed it totally. Successive Ethiopian colonizers followed suit.

Currently, the railway system is rendering services to its foreign and local visitors. The steam engines are becoming a tourism attraction; different tourists have been visiting the railway from every corner of the globe. The tour by means of steam engines help the visitors gain a clear picture of the landscape of the country.

The railway system would play a big role in transporting mining’s that are being extracted in different corners of the country, serve in the free zone, exporting goods to and from the ports, and bulky freight of agricultural yields that are harvested in Western lowlands. Therefore, this is the right time to construct and renew the railways so as to render a safe, fair and efficient service to the people. Mr. Amanuel said plans worth 460 million Nakfa have been set out to be implemented in the next five years that include upgrading Asmara-Massawa railroad, laying about 50 km long new railway line that would extend 20 km long Asmara-Imbaderho, 25 km long Massawa cement factory-Ghedem and the rest five km would be stretched from Massawa to the free zone; on top of importing new trains and carriages that would be used in transporting about 850,000 tones of goods annually.

The maritime transport system embraces various activities under its umbrella. It gives services for anchoring ships, transporting people and goods, maritime service counseling, constructing and renovating ships and boats, constructing and improving ports, controlling sea pollution, and empowering its human resources, explained Mr. Gebremedhin Habte, Director General of Maritime Transportation. Eritrea became a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1993.

In ancient times, the ports and bays of Eritrea were among the busy market lines in the world. Starting from the Bay of Teklay to the bay of Debeyo, there are many bays that were famous at that time: Gulbub, Dersa, Kubaé, Saba, Fatuma, Tió ...and so many more. The ports of Adulis, Beilul, Defalon, Hirgigo and Dahlak were also the busiest ports of ancient period. The activities of the ports since the Italian colonization until Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie period was run under private ownership. However, the Derg took everything under its control. As a result, the maritime transport service was under stern clutches of the Derg. The work procedure continued until the time of liberation.

During the armed struggle, the maritime transport system had played a tremendous role in transporting people, goods and other important materials here and there. The Angelos ship has been rendering service since 1982. The Selam ship that was bought in 1989 has rendered a great service during the struggle for liberation. The bays like Gelalo, Engle, Beret, Abida and Angin used to give service as a port during these times. The maritime transport similar to other branches of transportation systems in the country has recorded remarkable progress after independence. Initially, the ports of Eritrea did not have any infrastructure and suprastructure enough to put them under the category of ports. They were called as ports; however, they were not working as ports practically. The Derg used 90% of the ports activity to import and stockpile military armaments, and ultimately had laid it in ruins.

The government of Eritrea began to work on reconstructing the ports with a limited budget in order to give efficient service. Since independence, various accomplishments are registered: ports are expanded, modern terminal containers constructed, harbors expanded in width and depth, cemented jetties were constructed, the Causeway of Sgalet and Bab Ashera expanded ... the list goes. Nevertheless, some challenges have also encountered in the last twenty years of independence–including shortage of skilled manpower, endeavors to keep pays with the fast truck international maritime standards, regional competitiveness for quality maritime service and the limited awareness of society on the maritime transportation system among others. The Department of Maritime Services has been working in three phases to develop the port of Massawa. The first phase was from1991-1995 to reconstruct the ports, second phase stretches from 1996-2010 with the mission to expanding and upgrading the ports with various materials. And the third phase runs from 2010-2015 a five- year plan to constructing modern ports.

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