Dr. Lubinda Mufalo Sakanga
The Transport sector has been defined by many in likeness to the blood circulation system of a living body, as regards its importance to national, regional and continental development. It is, therefore, important to consider it in terms of transport connectivity density relative to land, level of accessibility in provides to social and economic amenities, the product quality and quality of transport services provided in an economy and of course the rights and obligations of the transport market players for each transport mode, as they enrich the value and scope of the transport ecosystem and its overall contribution to social and economic development in addition to trade and regional integration.
For each economy’s transport sector, its development and efficiency in service provision is the responsibility of a mandated authority usually under the state. This authority provides policy guidance as regards, transport sector planning, investment, regulation, digital support, education, sector manufacturing and supply, products and service quality provisions, security, among other facets. Whilst each economy may be classified differently in terms of social class and development strata, the need for a sufficient and efficient transport network remains pivotal to all for the transportation and facilitation of all goods, commodities, people and services. For the mandated transport authority, their primary responsibility will be to ensure the achievement of both technical efficiency and allocative efficiency of the transport network of their economy. Where technical efficiency alludes to maximisation of the outputs from a set of contributing inputs in all transport modes and, allocative efficiency to mean the maximisation of transport service and support outputs from the most optimal mix of transport modes and players. As espoused in the Transnomics philosophy, the application of transport economics in this manner enables a balanced and sustained growth of the transport sector with positive social and economic externalities generated in perpetuity.
Taking a modal perspective of this narrative, one can prompt for being Assertive about rail transport sector development and service efficiency. Assertiveness can be undertaken in various ways, but Transnomics Consultants recommend to be defined, effectively measuring and reporting performance of railways and other modes of transportation. Of course, all this is not relevant if void of a legislatively supported, committed and resource dedicated rail sector transport infrastructure and service provision master plan or strategy with clear vision of what is to be in place by a predetermined time, the measures and programmes to be undertaken to achieve the constituting components of the plan or strategy and the rules and procedures guiding and protecting the interplay of all market players indulging in achievement of the plan and or strategy. A clear and legislatively supported rail economic policy and strategic plan anchored on transnomics philosophy.
For your transport sector performance measurement considerations, engage TRANSNOMICS Consultants for:
- Guidance and advisory services on building indicators for analysis of your modal transport development and service provision
- Apt application of econometrics and data analytics of rail transport business informatics to capture the intricacy of transport modal performance
- Informing your market responsive strategy, identifying the performance drivers of each of your modes of transport
- Service quality improvement and performance measurements
- Pulling investments into your various modes of transport.
Stakeholders will be most enlightened about your railway transport sector if you measure and report on responsible governance and oversight relative to the strategic objectives and programmes drawn in your Plan or Strategy. For investments and market player accommodativeness, we also recommend setting rail sector targets for economic equilibrium and for establishing sustainable resources. Further, reporting on infrastructure network maintenance and improvement relative to approved standards and global best practices is cardinal as it facilitates for modernisation of the network. Subject to your choice of rail economic regulatory regime, these measurement and reporting recommendations are to be done relative to your market orientation (open access, third party access, concession, holding separation, vertical integration). All these reporting areas must be based on the transnomics recommended performance indicators. For example, subject to your rail market orientation, performance indicators would include proportion of satisfied customers, tariff rates acceptance, service delivery lead times, track availability, among others.
Being assertive about rail transport sector development and service efficiency is a deliberate and conscious decision relative to mandate holder’s desire to deliver on it. As Africa plans to transition from the legacy rail infrastructure and the colonially set trade facilitation setup, it is recommended for transnomics philosophy to be applied. As your transport sector rail vision is established, the processes to its attainment cannot be left to chance. If you desire for rail sector to facilitate mining sector development, then this requires a deliberate and assertive approach to it, one that must be measured and constantly monitored and reported against for improvement.
Some preliminary questions to assertiveness of your transport sector.
- Is performance of your transport sector measured?
- Is performance of your rail sector measured?
- What is the economic contribution of your railway sector versus other modes of transport?
- What is the vision and target time being pursued for your current railway sector plan?
Be Assertive about rail transport sector development and service efficiency for the Africa we want.
Dr. Lubinda Mufalo Sakanga is a transport economist specialised in economic regulation, project and operations management. He has over 17 years of progressive transport sector experience gained at national and international levels. He worked in the public sector from 2006 to 2017 (Zambia) as a Senior Transport Economist position and progressively promoted to Assistant Director for Road and Rail. From 2017 to date, he serves the SADC region as Southern African Railways Association- Director Technical and Operations in charge of Programmes Coordination (Rail transport corridor development, policy, projects coordination and resource mobilisation). Dr. Sakanga also provides transport, infrastructure, economic policy and operations management.
TRANSNOMICS consultancy services. His professional experience is complemented by astute academic qualifications: PhD degree in Operations Management under the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He has developed a regional railway corridor economic regulatory framework for sustainable economic development in SADC. He has a Master of Science degree in Project Management from the University of Salford, a Master of Arts Degree in Economic Policy Management and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Zambia. In addition, he holds professional certificates in Infrastructure and Public Private Partnership Financing, Road Management & Transport Technology, Business Accounting, amongst others. He champions the TRANSNOMICS philosophy.
