Burkina Fasoisimplementing aplantoupgrade andimprove thesetransit routes. I •••A/44/588 Englhh Page12 20.TheCentral African Republic ha.twomaintransit corridorll Banqui-Congo to Pointe-Noire, byrivertoBrallaville andthenbytheCongo-Ocean railway from Brazzaville tnPointe-Noire. Themaincharacteristic ofthisrouteisthatriver trafficisinterrupted yearlyforatleastthreemonthsbetween rebruary and April. Theothercorridor istheBangui-Cameroon toDouala, withanalternative on theCameroon lector, eitherroadorroad/rail withtrans-shipment. TheCentral African Repu·'chasalsoarehabilitation plantoeffectimprovement ofthe transit corridor system. Chad h~sthreepOllible corridors vi•.neighbouring countries toocean po~ts, viaCameroon toDouala, viaNigeria toLagolandvia tt~ Central African Republic andCongotoPcinte-Noire. Thethreecorridors have commoncharacteristics inthatnearlytheentirerouteisinthetransit country or countrie.. Thus,Chadisdependent on~tlneighbours' infraltructurel and equipment. Thetrans-equatorial corrido. byroadtoBangui, thenbyriverto Bralzaville andfinally byrailtoPointe-Noire islittleusedinviewofthe distance andofthenumberoftrans-shipments. TheCameroonian andNigerian corridors havelarge-capacity andwell-equipped ports,excellent road infrastructures inNigeria andthesehavebeenreasonably improved inCameroon. However, theroutethrough Nigeria isverylittleusedfortransit largely because thereisnotransit agreement between thetwocountries toregulate thetransit operations alonqthecorridor. Cameroon offersmanyfacUlties andasar8Rult mostChadian transit-transport isviaDouala. Thisroute,however, necessitates trans-shipment, astrllnsport isbyrailway between DouaIaandNgaoundere andthen byroadbetween Ngaoundere andNdjam4na. Measure. toimprove theefficiency of thisroutewillinclude theincrease oftherailway rolling stockandexpansioJ. of Chad'sroadhaulage capacity. 2.Malihasaccesstotheseabytwomainroutesl viaSenegal byrailway linking BamdkototheportofDakarandviatheCoted'Ivoire byroad bet~~~n Bamakoand Abidjan.Although landdistance byeitherrouteisroughly thesame,transport costperton/kilometre areaboutonethirdhigherthrough Abidjan thanthrough Datar,asroadtransport ismoreexpensive perton/kilometre thanrail.The alternative routesviaConakry, LomeandCotonou needconsiderable improvements to beviablecompetitive routes. Therehabilitation plansunderimplementation are mainlyfocused onimproving theoperations onthetwomainoutlets. FromNiger, theseacanbereached byfourmainroutes. TherouteviaBenin-Cotonou isof overriding importance asitcarries morethan70percentofoverseas traffic. The routeNiger-Lome -viaBurkina FasotoNiamey-Lome islargely abituminous road. Itcarries aboutonefourthofNigerls overseas traffic. TherouteNlger-Lagos includes twoaccesslinks, linder-Kano byroadorMakadi-Kano byroadandthen Kano-Lagos byrail.TherouteNiger-Algeria (thetrans-Sahara route), with 2,900kilometres between AgadesandAlgiers, isalsoapotential outlet. Several projects areunderwaytorehabilitate mainlythetransit routesinuse. 22.Although thereareseveralbilateral arrangements between theland-lockeu countries andtheirtransit neighbours inthe.ubregion, manyofthe.eare poo~:ty implemented. Asaresultmanyday-to-day procedurel related tointer-modal cross-border operations, inclUding CUltoms procedure., areslowandcumbersome. Thisiscompounded bytrans-shipment requirements alonglomeofthetran4it corridors, whichgiverisetoexorbitant overalltransit COltS. Several ofthe land-locked countries inthesubregion alsohaveanumberofalternatives, the I•••A/44/588 English Page13 availability oftheseoptions is,however, littleexploited because thelimited rSBourceB arelarge)~' channelled totherehabilitation otroutescurrently inuse, whicharegenerally invelYpoorcondition. E.Aili 23.The la~d-locked developing countries inAsiaareAfghanistan, Bhutan, theLao People's Democratic Republic, Mongolia andNepal. TheLaoPeople's Democratic Republic tw~available transit corridors fortransit goodsarethrough Thailand and theportofBangkok. Sincethesigning ofthe1978TreatyofTransit with
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the transit routes and infrastructure of several African countries, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and others. The focus is on the challenges and opportunities related to trade and commerce, with a particular emphasis on the difficulties faced by landlocked countries. The text also touches on the need for improved infrastructure and customs procedures to facilitate trade.

**Category**
Transport and communication, International trade