Redevelopment of Inland Water Transport for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Southern Sudan

Abstract

Transport infrastructure redevelopment is needed in post-conflict situations to smoothly resettle people displaced by armed conflicts and to handle the increased flow of goods and people. This chapter will propose ways to improve planning methods for transport redevelopment in post-conflict reconstruction. The development assistance project to restore and enhance inland water transport (IWT) in post-conflict Southern Sudan demonstrates that IWT plays a crucial role in reconstruction and that IWT can expand services with a small investment more easily than road transport. This chapter refutes the widespread perception that IWT is a minor mode of transportation because of its disadvantages relative to land transport in terms of time and network scales. It first examines the use of IWT in Europe, the United States, Japan, and Korea, followed by a review of the redevelopment of IWT for disaster management in Japan and the lessons learned from relief and rehabilitation activities following the Kobe earthquake (also known as the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake). These lessons are then applied to the rehabilitation of IWT in postconflict Southern Sudan. The chapter further discusses the challenges of capacity development for new government agencies that have been established following conflicts, which often have limited capacities for managing facilities.