Sudan: Infrastructure
Chapter 4: Red Sea, Horn of Africa
Sudan: Infrastructure
Railroads, Roads
/ Ports, Airports / Communications
Overview
/ Leadership / System Essentials
/ Population / Fielded Forces
/ Table of Contents
Sennar Dam, a major souce of power for eastern Sudan
Government-owned Sudan Railways operates about 4,800 kilometers of rail lines from Port Sudan to most major interior production and consumption centers except in the far south. Despite a substantial loss of rail traffic to road transport after the mid-1970s, the railroad system remains important for low-cost volume movement of agricultural exports and for inland delivery of heavy capital equipment, construction materials, and other goods for economic development.
Only about 2,000 km of Sudan's 20,000 km road network is paved. The most important road is the Port Sudan-Khartoum highway.
Port Sudan and Sawakin on the Red Sea are Sudan's only deep-water ports. The ports possess some modern port equipment but most cargo handling is manual. The Sudanese national merchant marine (ten ships of 122,200 deadweight tons in 1990) operates to Red Sea, Mediterranean, European ports.
Sudan has nine airports with permanent surface runways. Khartoum International is the country's principal airport.
Sudan's communications network is a large, well-equipped system by African standards, but barely adequate and poorly maintained by modern standards. Its elements include: