Transportation inMalawi is poorly developed. The country of almost 23 million has 39 airports, 6 with paved runways and 33 with unpaved runways. It has 797 kilometres (495 miles) ofrailways, allnarrow-gauge and about 45 percent of its roads are paved. Though it islandlocked, Malawi also has 700 km (435 mi) ofwaterways on Lake Malawi and along theShire River.[1]
Recent (c. 2009) assessments indicate that there were 15,451 km (9,601 mi) of roads in the country; of these, 6,956 km (4,322 mi) (45 percent) were paved. The remaining 8,496 km (5,279 mi) were not paved.[2]
Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and Shire River (144 kilometres) provide the major waterways. There is arailhead at the port ofChipoka, Salima district in central Malawi. Smaller ports exist atMonkey Bay,Nkhata Bay,Nkhotakota andChilumba.
TheMV Ilala connectsLikoma Island with the mainland, as well as the Malawian and Mozambican sides of the lake. In 2010, a port inNsanje was opened to connect the country through the Shire and Zambezi rivers with the Indian Ocean. As of 2015, the port is not operational due to unresolved contracts with Mozambique.
Malawian Airlines Limited is the national airline of Malawi which operates regional passenger service. Based inLilongwe, it is 51% owned by the Malawi government. 49% are controlled byEthiopian Airlines The airline's main base of operations isLilongwe International Airport, with a secondary hub atChileka International Airport.
In 2001, there was a total of 44 airports in the country.As of 2015, two airports have scheduled passenger services.
total: 6
over 3,047 m:1
1,524 to 2,437 m:1
914 to 1,523 m:4 (2002)
total: 37
1,524 to 2,437 m:1
914 to 1,523 m:14
under 914 m:22 (2002)
Malawi Railways is the national rail network inMalawi, run by a government corporation until privatisation in 1999. As of 1 December 1999 theCentral East African Railways, a consortium led byRailroad Development Corporation, won the right to operate the network. This was the first rail privatisation in Africa which did not involve a parastatal operator.[3]
The rail network totalled 797 kilometres in 2001. It is a narrow gauge line with a1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) track.
The 797-kilometre (495 mi),1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge line extends from theZambian border atMchinji in the west viaLilongwe toBlantyre and Makhanga in the south. AtNkaya Junction it links with theNacala Corridor line going east via Nayuchi toMozambique's deepwater port atNacala on theIndian Ocean. Thelink south from Makhanga to Mozambique'sBeira corridor has been closed since theMozambique Civil War, with plans for reconstruction not yet realised.
There is no direct link with neighbouringTanzania as there is abreak of gauge,1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)/1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) . An extension fromMchinji toChipata inZambia opened in 2010,[4] and there is a proposal to eventually link up from there with the TAZARA railway atMpika.[5] Direct linkage is available withMozambique, however, which has the same gauge track. Linkage is called the Nacala Corridor line via Nayuchi to the port ofNacala, andNsanje to theDona Ana Bridge andBeira. The latter link has not been operational since the war in Mozambique and is in need of reconstruction.
In 2006, a Brazilian company (VALE) announced plans to build a rail branch line to theMoatize coal mine in western Mozambique from theNacala Corridor line to export coal via the port ofNacala; the link would cross Malawi. The nationalRailroad Development Corporation map shows a proposed extension across the border toChipata inZambia.Central East African Railways, previously a subsidiary of the Railroad Development Corporation, operates the privatisedMalawi Railways network.[6] Also in 2006, the president of Malawi,Bingu wa Mutharika asked his Mozambiquan counterpart,Armando Guebuza, to consider the provision of a new 250 kilometre rail connection fromNsanje - the then-current southern extent ofMalawi Railways - to theIndian Ocean port ofChinde, near the mouth of the Zambesi.
As of 2007, there were 175,200 land linetelephones in Malawi, and 1.051 millioncell phones, which is approximately 8 cell phones per 100 people. The telephone system overall is described as rudimentary. In the past, Malawi's telecommunications system has been named as some of the poorest in Africa, but conditions are improving, with 130,000 land line telephones being connected between 2000 and 2007. Telephones are much more accessible inurban areas, with less than a quarter of land lines being inrural areas.[7] There were 139,500 Internet users as of 2007, and 3 Internet service providers as of 2002. As of 2001 there were 14 radio stations and 1 TV station.[8]
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