Transport problems in relation to economic development in West Africa

Abstract

One of the main factors affecting transport especially road transport, efficiency and costs is the state of repair and maintenance services. The lack of skill, equipment and organization in this field which is still very common in the region under consideration seriously hampers and raises the cost of transport operations. A study of transport in Africa will be largely concerned with "bottlenecks" due to the lack of adequate goods and passenger transport services, possibly caused by defective infrastructures. Shortage of suitable equipment, faulty routing etc. This situation partly arose out of war or post-war conditions and is thus more or less temporary but its causes may be to some extent inherent in such basic constraints on West African trade and production as seasonal variations.