Transport In Timor-Leste

In Timor-Leste, transportation is reduced due to the nation's poverty, poor transportation infrastructure.

There are no railways in the country. The general condition of the roads is inadequate. The country has six airports, one of which has commercial and international flights.

Railways

Timor-Leste has no railways. However, a master plan for a long electrified double-track railway was proposed in 2012, with a central line from Bobonaro to Lospalos, a western corridor from Dili to Betano and an eastern corridor from Baucau to Uatolari.

Roadways

Overview

Timor-Leste has a road network of , of which about of roads are paved, and about are unpaved.

The road network is made up of national roads linking municipal capitals (~), municipal roads linking municipal capitals to towns and villages (~), urban roads within urban areas (~) and rural roads within rural areas (~).

As of 2003, Timor-Leste's main arterial roads were located along the north coast, and there were good sealed roads in and around urban centres. The central mountain ridge is rugged with a maximum elevation of AMSL. In 2003, it could be crossed by road in several places, but the mountain roads were poorly maintained unsealed one-two lane tracks. Roads on the south coast were mostly unsealed and in poor condition.

In a 2015 survey reported by the World Bank, 57% of the rural roads were rated either bad or poor.

While under Portuguese rule, East Timor's road system, like the road network in all Portuguese colonies, adhered to right-hand drive. After the Indonesian takeover in 1975, the roads were made to switch to left-hand drive (like virtually all of present-day Indonesia). Upon independence in 2002 the left-hand traffic rule was retained.

National roads

Timor-Leste has 20 arterial roads, designated as A-class roads (national roads), as follows:

In October 2016, the East Timorese government symbolically launched a rehabilitation project for the Dili–Manatuto–Baucau national road. Construction was to be undertaken in two sections, Dili–Manatuto, and Manatuto–Baucau, in each case by a Chinese construction company. The project was financed by the General State Budget, and also from a loan fund from the Japanese government, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It was due to be completed in mid-2019, and the completed road was officially inaugurated on 26 August 2022.

According to a road network connectivity quality assessment published in September 2019, the national road network already satisfactorily connected all national activity centres for all
types of vehicles in circulation. However, some of the road segments needed to be improved, in terms of road width, drainage, geometric design and traffic facilities.

Bridges

Overview

As of 2003, Timor-Leste had 450 road bridges. They were well constructed, but a few important bridges in the south of the country were either not in service or uncompleted. Where a bridge was not in service, the relevant stream was shallow and for most of the year could be forded.

Bridges in Dili

Two road bridges over the Comoro River link central Dili with the west side of the city, including the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport and the Tibar Bay port, which as at early 2022 was due to start operations later that year. The more important of these two bridges is the CPLP Bridge; its alternative, approximately to its south, is the Hinode Bridge.

At the north eastern corner of central Dili, the B. J. Habibie Bridge spans the , and connects central Dili with the eastern waterfront of the Bay of Dili.

Noefefan Bridge

This bridge, also known as the Tono Bridge, was inaugurated in 2017 as part of the ZEESM TL project in Oecusse.

Ports and harbors

* Port of Dili – for passenger ships and cruise ships carrying international passengers
* Tibar Bay Port – for import and export goods; opened on 30 September 2022

Merchant marine

Total
* 1

Ships by type
*passenger/cargo 1 (2010)

Routes

In July 2022, the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, urged the government of Timor-Leste to open a shipping route between Kupang, Dili, and Darwin, to boost sea lane connectivity.

Airports

, Timor-Leste had eight airports. The three major ones were Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, Cakung or Baucau Airport in Baucau, and Suai Airport in Suai. Only the first two of these were designed as international airports.

The airport at Dili is the main international airport. As of 2022, commercial scheduled service was also provided at Suai Airport, and Oecusse Airport in Pante Macassar. Local airports included Viqueque Airport in Viqueque.

No airport in Timor-Leste is officially available for night operations, but the government permits such operations in emergencies.

Heliports

8 (2012)

References

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Further reading

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External links

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