Road Transport policy harmonization and Transport sector services development

NTU provided technical assistance to the African Union Commission Department for Infrastructure and Energy (AUC-DIE) within the EDF-funded project “Support to the African Union Commission Department of Infrastructure and Energy in transport policy harmonization and transport sector services development & Support to PIDA PAP for the start-up of smart corridor activities”, as part of the larger intervention, “Support to the Transport Sector Development Programme”. The project had  a budget of €2.3 million. The project's overall objective was to contribute to the achievement of inclusive political, economic, and social development through enhanced regional integration of ACP countries, with focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, and providing support for achieving a selection of MDGs (Millennium Development Goals).

The specific objective of the programme was to contribute to strengthened Africa wide capacity to regulate, organize, promote and finance improved inter regional and continental transport infrastructure and services through interconnectivity across regions by promoting Safe trans-boundary transport corridors and Harmonised transport policies.

The work of NTU focused, among others, on increasing the sector management capacities of the AUC-DIE.

How we did it

Among numerous technical assistance activities, NTU undertook the following:

• Elaboration of a Transport Sector Policy Paper: “White Paper”. It consisted in a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of Africa over the next 50 years, that builds on and seeks to accelerate the implementation of many continental initiatives for economic prosperity and sustainable development.
• Institutional Capacity Building. NTU supported the implementation of Africa Transport Policy Knowledge Portal providing the latest state-of-the-art information on transport policy for decision makers, practitioners, decision makers and stakeholders throughout Africa
• Project Management. NTU Team assisted the AUC transport and Tourism Division throughout the entire project implementation period with participation to various regional forums, workshops, and conferences.
• Transport Sector Governance. NTU drafted the transport sector Governance Paper.
• Transport Infrastructure Financing and PPP Options. NTU proposed technical reports which aimed at giving an overview of most commonly used PPP models as well as at enhancing knowledge on financing sources for transport infrastructure developments in Africa.
  
• Road Maintenance. NTU developed three technical reports with the objectives, among others, to: define Road Deterioration Characteristics; help ensure suitable and sustainable resource allocation, through the advocating of Performance Based Contracting on a Continental basis; analyze Public/Private Partnerships for road management and maintenance; define and describe Road data banks; and provide recommendations to improve road maintenance.
  
• Road and Vehicle Standards and Safety. NTU organized and led series of regional dissemination workshops by bringing together experts from the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States in order to present to them the documents in relation to Intergovernmental Agreement on Harmonization of road standards and norms and to the African Road Safety Charter.
  
• Sustainable Transport. NTU drafted the Sustainable Transport and Climate Change Paper
  
• Joint Africa EU Strategy (JAES). NTU supported the thematic transport infrastructure agenda under the 2014-2017 Roadmap of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.