Challenges of Institutional Coordination in Planning for Public Transportation in East Africa: Analysis Based on Perceptions of Stakeholders in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges of institutional coordination in planning for public transport in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi. Sources of data included literature review from published and unpublished documents, interviews with institutions involved in public transportation and workshops. The data was coded and analyzed using structural-functional and content analysis. Analysis of results showed a number of challenges that constrain institutional coordination in planning for public transport in the cities of Dar-es-salaam and Nairobi. Those challenges are inherently embedded in the institutional, political, cultural, economic and technological conditions of Tanzania and Kenya. This paper recommends establishment of a framework for institutional coordination in planning for public transport suited to circumstances of each of these countries. This will be a tool to address uncontrolled fragmentation of public transport agreements across different agencies, and a guide to different sectors to pursue individual public transport initiatives within the agreed policy objectives. Good governance and leadership principles should be central attributes in the framework for institutional coordination with emphasis on democratic participation and the development of partnerships between private and public sectors and citizens in planning for public transport.