Last year, in the first week of October 2010, I arrived in Dakar, Senegal for a week of discussions with transportation professionals from across Africa. It was the first gathering of such a group under the aegis of the International Union for Public Transport [UITP], through its African unit, UATP. It was a useful assembly with a deep focus on the need for high level focus on public transportation by governments, business and other stakeholders. It also marked a watershed of interaction between anglophone and francophone countries, especially in West Africa.
Many of the presentations showcased on-going initiatives and raised issues of pertinence and relevance to all participants. The main thread that ran through the sessions was that Africa needed to raise its game and energise the Transportation sector. A moot point was that our inefficient transportation systems were a major factor in the level of mass poverty, ill health and insecurity. Decision-makers were encouraged to make strategic transportation planning a key item on national economic planning.
If anyone thought that the Dakar Declaration was the end of another talk-shop that would little fruit, it was a great delight to attend a joint World Bank-UATP Integrated Mobility Planning workshop at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Held over five days from 31 May - 5 June 2011, sponsored by UATP in conjunction with the World Bank and similar agencies, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority [LAMATA], hosted a contingent of Africa's top transportation professionals. I found the interactions at the workshop very valuable and met many fellow transportation experts who were very receptive and keen to take ideas forward in their cities.
For those among us that had been in Dakar the year before, it was an affirmation that two of the key issues - advocacy for public transportation in Africa and raising human capacity in the sector - were gradually being addressed.
The message is this: public transportation is taking off in Africa in a big way.
In future blogs, I will talk about the key issues driving transportation in Africa today, highlighting success stories and the challenges we face in doing our best to move Africa's people and their goods.
It's time to get African moving - modern mobility measures for a modernising continent.
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