Paving the Path to Social Justice: Eritrea’s Post-Independence Road Construction

By: Mussie Efriem (taken from shabait.com)

When Eritrea was liberated on May 24 1991 following a long armed struggle, it immediately faced the monumental task of reconstruction and nation building. To undertake this formidable task, the government has prioritized sustainable national development designed to secure a bright and prosperous future for generations to come. Central to this vision was a commitment to equitable growth across the entire country, ensuring equal opportunities and the inclusive provision of resources for the whole population.

To realize this inclusive goal, the government has committed itself to the core principle of social justice by allocating equal opportunities and essential public services to every citizen, regardless of their geographic location. This foundational principle transformed national recovery efforts into a structured campaign for civic well-being, ensuring that healthcare, education, and clean water are treated as basic human rights.

To ensure the successful realization of these nationwide goals, the Eritrean youth have been placed at the very center of the country’s development programs. Under national initiatives, thousands of young men and women regularly undergo technical and vocational training at centers across the country. Students acquire critical skills in essential fields such as technical drafting, heavy machinery operation, building technology, and infrastructural engineering. Armed with essential technical knowledge and skills, the empowered workforce has been crucial in transforming the country’s domestic transport network.

Transportation infrastructure is critical in ensuring access to essential human needs and opportunities within a society. Beyond its economic use, transportation bridges socioeconomic gaps, directly linking diverse communities to healthcare, quality education, employment centers, and civic spaces. Ultimately, investing in reliable roads, bridges, and public transportation systems is an investment in social justice and community resilience, transforming society through collective well-being.

Communities that were formerly isolated and cut off from timely medical and emergency services due to lack of transport infrastructure prior to Eritrea’s independence have been fully integrated into the national network through newly constructed roads. This widespread expansion of roads has converted arduous journeys that took days into trips that take just a few hours. A notable testament to this milestone is the critical coastline route linking the strategic port cities of Massawa and Assab. The journey used to take two to three days over harsh terrain, but it now takes not more than a day.

Another significant achievement of the post-independence era is the modernization of the strategic Barentu-Tessenei highway, a route that goes as far as neighboring Sudan. In the first few years following Eritrea’s independence, this vital road was rather difficult to navigate; however, with the government’s timely intervention, it was transformed into a fully modernized, asphalted route that facilitates efficient cross-border connection.

The construction of the Serejeqa-Shebah road, built under the Warsay Yikealo development campaign, stands as another monumental product. Carving a path through some of the country’s steepest, most treacherous mountain escarpments required profound sacrifice and dedication. This magnificent road cuts through the breathtaking Eritrean Green Belt, a beautiful ecological zone that is one of the country’s thriving natural habitats and premier tourist attractions celebrated for its rich and diverse fauna and flora.

In addition to these major arteries, the government has achieved tremendous progress in the country’s Western lowlands by converting impassable tracks into reliable transport routes. This includes the road from Akurdet to Sawa, which was upgraded with a combination of modern half-asphalt and high-quality, compacted soil layers. Similar infrastructural upgrades have fundamentally transformed roads across the Western lowlands, replacing difficult journeys with vastly improved networks connecting Keren to Geleb, Afabet to Felket, Afabet to Nakfa, Akurdet to Grmayka, Tessenei to Omhajer, and Akurdet to Kerkebet.

Alongside the eastern escarpments, the construction of the iconic Egila-Demhina road stands as a monumental engineering achievement linking Adi Keyih subzone to Foro subzone. Penetrating through cliffs and once-impenetrable mountains via Robrobya, Karibosa, and Wi’a, this new passage replaces the old, highly circuitous Adi-Keyih-Dekemhare-Nefasit-Ghinda’e- Gahtelay route, enormously cutting the original travel distance from 300 kilometers to just 120 kilometers.

Building on these successes, ongoing development works are advancing rapidly along the vital Nefasit-to-Serha route, from Dekemhare to Tera Emni and from Adi Quala to Enda Gergis. Furthermore, ongoing projects are shaping the connection from Forto Sawa to Tessenei via Adibara and Tamarat. This aggressive blueprint for countrywide social justice has trickled down to the most isolated populations, remarkably granting full road connectivity to around 90 villages in Mai Mine subzone that previously lacked any form of access to transport.

Some of the world’s most monumental infrastructures have been engineered and executed by military workforces. Prime historical examples include Egypt’s iconic Aswan High Dam, which successfully tamed the Nile River to provide electricity and irrigation, and the Panama Canal, an engineering marvel constructed under the direction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to redefine global maritime trade permanently. Utilizing a disciplined, highly organized defense force for public works allows nations to mobilize a large-scale workforce rapidly. This proven strategy of civil-military intervention demonstrates how state institutions can use the military, during peacetime, to serve as primary catalysts for national recovery, turning structured labor toward the vital tasks of building dams, expanding highways, and constructing the foundational frameworks necessary for long-term economic sovereignty.

Similarly, as part of the Warsay Yikelao campaign, members of the Eritrean Defense Forces have served in the nationwide development works, translating their disciplined organization into historic civil engineering achievements. A prime manifestation of this is the road project that stretches from Gulo to Talha Ner’e, Senafe subzone. This vital route cuts across the challenging Emba Soira mountain range, passing through the nation’s highest elevation at approximately 3,018 meters above sea level.

In parallel with these rural connections, urban infrastructure have undergone significant modernization in the post-independence years, notably exemplified by the ongoing construction of the strategic Asmara ring road. Once completed, this critical infrastructure will form a comprehensive loop around the capital, seamlessly redirecting heavy trucks around the outskirts, drastically reducing inner-city congestion and minimizing municipal road wear.

In addition to this extensive road network, hundreds of modern bridges have been constructed across the nation over the past 35 years of independence. These crucial structures were erected through the dedication, resilience, and unyielding determination of Eritrean construction companies. By bridging these physical divides, they have not only prevented hazardous washouts during the heavy rainy seasons but have also permanently secured the safety and continuity of national transit. This monumental bridge-building campaign stands as a defining symbol of Eritrea’s self-reliance, demonstrating that the country’s domestic workforce has the technical capacity and stamina to resolve its most complex infrastructure challenges independently.

Note: At independence, Eritrea inherited only about 620 kilometers of asphalt-paved roads and roughly 5,800 kilometers of seasonal roads, much of the network having been severely neglected and damaged during decades of war. By 2021, however, the country had expanded its road infrastructure to approximately 1,460 kilometers of asphalt-paved roads, 3,642 kilometers of all-weather permanent roads, and nearly 10,000 kilometers of seasonal roads. In total, Eritrea’s road network grew from about 6,420 kilometers at independence to more than 15,100 kilometers by 2021, reflecting one of the country’s most significant post-independence infrastructure achievements.