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Somalia Transportation
In 1988 the total expenditure for transportation and
communications was US$57.8 million. Nearly 55 percent of this
amount was for new infrastructure; 28 percent was for
rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure. This
activity must be understood in the context of the ongoing civil
war in Somalia; much of the infrastructure particularly bridges
in the north, either had deteriorated or been destroyed, as a
result of the fighting. As of early 1992, no systematic study
existed of the infrastructural costs of the civil war.
At independence, Somalia inherited a poorly developed
transportation system consisting of a few paved roads in the more
populated areas in the south and northwest, four undeveloped
ports equipped only with lighterage facilities, and a handful of
usable airstrips
(see
fig. 6). During the next three decades,
some improvement was made with the help of substantial foreign
aid. By 1990 all-weather roads connected most of the important
towns and linked the northern and southern parts of the country.
Three ports had been substantially improved, eight airports had
paved runways, and regular domestic air service also was
available. But in early 1992, the country still lacked the
necessary highway infrastructure to open up undeveloped areas or
to link isolated regions, and shipping had come to a virtual halt
because of the security situation.
In 1990 Somalia had more than 21,000 kilometers of roads, of
which about 2,600 kilometers were paved, 2,900 kilometers were
gravel, and the remainder were improved earth. The country's
principal highway was a 1,200-kilometer two-lane paved road that
ran from Chisimayu in the south through Mogadishu to Hargeysa in
the north. North of Mogadishu, this route ran inland, roughly
paralleling the border with Ethiopia; a 100-kilometer spur ran to
the Gulf of Aden at Berbera. By early 1992 much of this road,
especially the northern part between Hargeysa and Berbera, was
relatively unsafe because of land mines. Somalia's 1988 plan
provided for another connection from this main route to Boosaaso
on the Gulf of Aden. Somalia had only one paved road that
extended from north of Mogadishu to Ethopia; all other links to
neighboring countries were dirt trails impassable in rainy
weather.
Four ports handled almost all of Somalia's foreign trade.
Berbera, Mogadishu, and Chisimayu were deepwater ports protected
by breakwaters. Merca, just south of Mogadishu, was a lighterage
port that required ships to anchor offshore in open roadsteads
while loading and unloading. Mogadishu was the principal port of
entry for most general cargo. Berbera received general cargo for
the northern part of the country and handled much of the nation's
livestock exports. United States aid enabled the doubling of the
berths at the port of Barkera and the deepening of the harbor,
completed in 1985 at a cost of US$37.5 million. Maydh, northwest
of Erigaro, was the only other and much smaller northern port.
Chisimayu's main function was the export of bananas and meat; the
meat was processed and packed at the port. The United States also
financed the US$42 million development of Chisimayu port in the
latter half of the 1980s. Merca was an export point for bananas.
In 1986 the Somali Ports Authority launched a modernization
project for all ports, with concentration on Mogadishu. The cost
was estimated at US$24.4 million, of which the IDA provided
US$22.6 million as a credit.
Mogadishu International Airport was the nation's principal airfield; in the
1980s, was a runway extended to 4,500 meters one of the runway was Africa's
longest with United States financial aid. The airport was further expanded in
1989 by Italy's contribution from its emergency aid fund for Africa. Only Mogadishu
offered international flights. Somali Airlines, the nation's flag carrier, was
partially owned by Alitalia, the Italian national airline. Somali Airlines in
1989 replaced its fleet of five aging 707 airplanes with one Airbus 310, making
it a one-plane international airline. In 1990 domestic service linked Mogadishu
with Berbera and six other Somali cities; flights were scheduled at least once
a week. As of April 1992, Somali Airlines had no scheduled flights, domestic
or international, and no other regular flights existed.
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