The Battle Between Infrastructure & The Environment In Africa
Where Do You Live?
These days there seems to be a constant on going war between environmentalists and African governments. Despite criticism from environmentalists the Kenyan government has planned to go ahead and build a major highway through one of its most famous National Parks. Congestion has long been a huge issue in Kenya and building a new highway will undoubtedly alleviate the traffic within the city as a whole. The Greenline are a trust in Kenya created by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Association of manufacturers who proposed a plan to plant 300,000 trees around the edge of the Nairobi National Park. The government however want to build a new highway not only through the path of the prospected tree planting area but also in a proportion of the Nairobi National Park.
The Nairobi National Park is a common place for most tourists to begin there Kenya safari, and i can’t imagine it will be able to create the same ambience if it has half of Nairobi’s rush hour traffic next door. The Greenline trust has sent a letter to Kenya National Highways Authority stating that ‘although the road is necessary we are concerned about the effect on the wildlife should the road encroach into the Nairobi National Park.’
This isn’t the first time infrastructure development and the environment has crossed paths as a similar scenario is still the case in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The government’s plan is to construct a road that connects Lake Victoria and the central African nations to the west to the port of Dar es Salaam. The road will effectively split the Serengeti right down the middle which will surely have major implications for the Tanzania safari trade. The highway would not only be an annoyance for tourists whilst hampering their game viewing it’s also going to be right across the wildebeests migration path which in turn could end up causing fatal accidents on the road.
It’s very difficult for the government to decide what’s best for everyone as there will always be a need to expand infrastructure to increase accessibility and trade but you have to get the balance correct as the consequences of building a road right through the middle of the Serengeti could have detrimental effects to the tourism industry, which is one of Tanzania’s main earners.
Leave a Reply