Transport in Burundi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are a number of systems of transport in Burundi, including road and water-based infrastructure, the latter of which makes use of Lake Tanganyika. Furthermore, there are also four airports in Burundi.
Contents |
[edit] Railways
Burundi does not possess any railway infrastructure, although there are proposals to connect Burundi to its neighbours via railway.
Lacking any railways, Burundi does not share rail links with adjacent countries, but a Chinese study in August 2006 resulted in a promise to construct a railway starting at the existing Tanzanian railway network, connecting at Isaka, running via Kigali in Rwanda, through to Burundi. Tanzanian railways use a one metre gauge, although other neighbouring countries utilise the 1067 mm gauge, leading to some potential difficulties. Also, another project was launched in the same year, which aimes to link Burundi and Rwanda (which also has no railways) to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, and therefore to the rest of Southern Africa. At a meeting to inaugurate the Northern Corridor Transit Coordination Authority (NCTCA), the governments of Uganda and Burundi backed the proposed new railway from the Ugandan western railhead at Kasese into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Additionally, Burundi has been added to a planned railway project to connect Tanzania and Rwanda.
[edit] Rail links with adjacent countries
(Links to adjacent Transport pages)
Democratic Republic of Congo - 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge
Rwanda - no railways yet
Tanzania - 1,000 mm (3 ft 33⁄8 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) TAZARA.
[edit] Towns served
[edit] Roads
A great hindrance to Burundi’s economic development is lack of adequate transportation. The country is landlocked, and there are no railroads. Roads total 14,480 km as of 2002, and only about 7 percent of them remain open in all weather; the rest are classed as local roads or tracks. In 2003, there were 24,000 passenger cars and 23,500 commercial vehicles.
[edit] Waterways
Lake Tanganyika is used for transport, with the major port on the lake being Bujumbura. Most freight is transported down waterways.
[edit] Airports
Burundi possesses eight airports, of which one has paved runways, whose length exceeds 3,047m. The main airport in the country is Bujumbura International Airport.
Air service is maintained by Air Burundi, which operates domestic service and flies to Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. International service is also provided by Air Zaïre, Sabena, and other airlines. As of 2004, there were an estimated eight airports in Burundi, of which the international airport in Bujumbura (as of 2005) was the country’s primary and only paved airport. There are also a number of helicopter landing strips. In 1997, 11,000 passengers travelled on international and domestic flights.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
