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112
Public Works
Lack of investment in infrastructure during the civil
war in Sudan and physical damage caused to fa-
cilities has resulted in a fragile infrastructure support
for the country. Sudan’s road system requires sub-
stantial improvement and investment. The country
has few paved roads (approximately 2,600 miles of
paved roadway out of roughly 7,500 miles of total
roadway) and only two major highways – the first
linking Port Sudan with Khartoum, and the second
linking Khartoum with Juba. There are other high-
ways still under construction such as the North Life
Line extending form Omdurman to Karima, Dongola
and Halfa to connect the Sudan with Egypt.
The work in the aforementioned roads has made
good progress, although the civil war, the economic
embargo and the withdrawal of foreign aid led to
delay in their completion. The National Corporation
for Roads and Bridges and the Sudanese-Bulgarian
Company are leading activity in the main road sec-
tor. Road building in towns has been active recently
with the asphalting of many roads and the building of
bridges throughout Khartoum. The government has
begun to connect the western, eastern, southern
and northern parts of the country via a road network.
There are roads under construction, roads in the de-
sign phase and roads undergoing feasibility studies.
There are many exciting opportunities for investment
in the construction of roads.
Bridges across the Nile and its tributaries play a stra-
tegic role in the unity of the country. Shambat Bridge
connects the industrial town of Khartoum North with
Omdurman. There are also bridges on the reser-
voirs of Sennar, Roseries on the Blue Nile and Jebel
Awilyya on the White Nile. Work has also begun on
El Giraif Bridge east of Manshiyya and a plan was
made to establish three new bridges in Khartoum
state.
The nation’s railways are in better shape, and much
more extensive. The country boasts one of the long-
est rail networks in Africa with more than 3,500 miles
of railway, but it is also suffering from lack of invest-
ment and currently handles only a fraction of the
freight it carried in the 1970s. At present, Malaysian
and Turkish companies are performing field surveys
to establish new rail lines between Port Sudan and
Khartoum via Atbara, as well as two other lines to
Sennar. The work in these sectors has already com-
menced. The private sector began investing in rail-
ways when the Sudanese Free Markets Company
provided 100 locomotives.
The physical development in the country clearly re-
flects its population growth, and the demographic
distributional issues that accompany such growth.
Since the 1970s, vertical construction has flourished.
It is a concept that was unheard of beforehand, due
to the vast size of the country and the variation in the
sources of income from agriculture, animal herding
and mobile trade. Horizontal housing has become
a more important feature of housing extensions in
the national capital and its suburbs. The government
managed to fulfil housing plans in the last ten years
which surpassed what has been achieved in town
planning since independence. There are still clearly
substantial needs in the construction of housing fa-
cilities in Khartoum and the rest of the country.
ROADS AND BRIDGES NATIONAL COMPANY
Eng. Mohamed A.M. Nur
General Director
PO Box 2809, Khartoum
Tel: + 249 01208 74989
Fax: + 249 18322 9967
Activity: Construction and maintenance of roads
and bridges
Date of Creation: 1950
Turnover: over 5 million USD
Ownership: mixed
No. Employees: 230
The Roads and Bridges National Company was cre-
ated about 60 years ago. It used to be fully respon-
sible for the maintenance of roads and bridges and
was entirely public but now, even though the min-
istry of finance is the main shareholder, many for-
eign companies have partial ownership. The main-
tenance of the local transportation network is now
shared with other companies.
Plus, the Roads and Bridges National Company is
looking for other foreign partners. As the company
is quite old, it is well known and well established in
Sudan. It deals with local but also international con-
tractors and is active in all the territory, including Dar-
fur, Obayid, Sinai and the area of Khartoum. Thus, it
offers a wide coverage and investors can find a good
foundation.
The Roads and Bridges National Company is profit-
able and still has opportunities for growth. As Eng.
Mohamed Nur declares, “construction and mainte-
nance are endless products”, especially here in Su-
dan with a 1million square kilometers territory.
He adds that “some efforts have to be made but this
activity represents an attractive investment”.