Ackeem Ngwenya

The world is in constant motion, whether one thinks of it in terms of drinking water, electricity, the internet, commuting or the movement of goods from one place to another. These motions are organised through networks that rely on some form of transportation, for which we have developed extensive infrastructure, technologies and services that have increased our sharing networks and allow us to communicate, move and trade globally. However, this is not true for everyone; e.g. in Malawi more than three-quarters of the population lives partially or completely cut-off from the country’s road infrastructure, and rely on walking and the head-carrying of goods.

The absence of transport infrastructure is a major contributor to people being cut off from their local economies. In Malawi people can be disconnected from markets and trading centres for up to four months a year during the rainy season. This impacts communities that rely on head-loading goods to access markets to sell their produce. This rural activity generates about 30 per cent of the country’s GDP ($1.3 billion of its $4.3 billion GDP (World Bank 2012)). The impact across Sub-Saharan Africa is also profound, as more than $4 billion in post-harvest waste occurs annually because farmers fail to get produce to markets.

Given that newer technologies or services often rely on pre-existing infrastructure, the inability to provide such infrastructure limits access to markets and services and so constrains economic growth and social development.

The absence of basic infrastructure is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing countries like Malawi. Since scarcity drives creativity, I take the absence as a playground for creative and innovative thinking to develop solutions that bypass the need for infrastructure and mistakes made by others.

I apply this logic to transport problems experienced by rural communities in Malawi. Instead of laying new roads, which is expensive, takes a lot of time to implement and may be subject to corrupt practices and is also unrealistic for remote and isolated rural communities in the short term, my project Roadless offers a solution that bypasses the need to pave roads, with transforming wheels that can be adapted to different terrains. Therefore Roadless can help rural communities have better access to markets sooner and at no infrastructure cost. 

It costs Malawi about $865,000 to pave a 1km stretch of road (Mtawali 2010). At this rate it would cost $8.7 billion to pave the remaining unpaved roads of the country’s designated road network (15 451 km), not including rural feeder roads. This is close to double its estimated GDP for 2012 ($4.5 billion). Money which could be spent on healthcare, education, clean water and other priorities.

If successful not only would Roadless decrease the time travelled and/or increase the load carried per journey, but it would especially have a positive impact on women and young children, whose heads, backs and legs are the most common form of transport.