Page "Transport in Sudan" Paragraph 13

Until the early 1970s, the government had favored the railroads, believing they better met the country's requirements for transportation and that the primary purpose of roads was to act as feeders to the rail system.

The railroads were also a profitable government operation, and road competition was not viewed as desirable.

In the mid-1930s, a legislative attempt had been made to prevent through-road transport between Khartoum and Port Sudan.

The law had little effect, but the government's failure to build roads hindered the development of road transportation.

The only major stretch of road that had been paved by 1970 was between Khartoum and Wad Madani.

This road had been started under a United States aid program in 1962, but work had stopped in 1967 when Sudanese-United States relations were broken over the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

United States equipment was not removed, however, and was used by government workers to complete the road in 1970.