Why Was the Route Rejected?
This route comes in conflict with many mountains. For example, in North Tunisia (where the route starts), the terrain is made up of the Atlas Mountains. Building a highway around mountains is the most expensive terrain to build on. This would be a problem for the highway in other countries as well, such as Algeria (the Ahaggar Mts.), Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (the Great Rift Valley), Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and some rugged hills in South Africa could pose a problem financially. Another reason occurs about halfway into the route. After passing the mountainous terrain in east Democratic Republic of the Congo, the excess rivers and large lakes in Uganda and Kenya pose a threat to the budget. Lake Victoria, one of the largest bodies of water in Africa, acts as part of a natural border for the two countries, and the route would go right over it. We wouldn’t want this because going over large lakes is extremely expensive to do when constructing a road. Also, parts of the Nile River are located in Uganda, making it extremely difficult to navigate the route through the country in a thrifty manner. The last threat that makes it hard to increase tourism, is the fact that part of the route goes through part of the Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world. This desert possesses some of the hottest temperatures on the face of the Earth, and just driving through it would be difficult for people to deal with that heat. Just imagine, what if there was a traffic jam in this part of the route? Heatstroke would be a very possible threat.
This route goes through many different and culturally diverse areas. From the mainly Arabic Tunisia, to the Black African dominant South Africa, this route recognizes ethnic groups such as the Hausa and Fulani tribes (Nigeria), the Cameroon Highlanders, and even mixed Asian (South Africa). This could be a good thing for tourists to experience many cultures by using the highway, but the highway could also display conflicts between the ethnic groups from countries that do not get along. These conflicts could range from the border disputes between Tunisia and Algeria to Zimbabwe being against the apartheid in South Africa. Another variant of these conflicts could be between contradictory religions along the route. Many religions such as Christian, Muslim, Catholic, Indigenous beliefs, and Syncretic (a mix between Christianity and Indigenous beliefs) are observed along the route, and if these religions are exposed to another conflicts can arise.
Many parts of this route go through borders that have disputes and wars such as the Tunisian-Algerian border, the Congolese-Ugandan border, the Tanzanian-Malawian border, and the Zambian-Zimbabwean border. This means that you would have to go through at least four border patrol stations along this route. Going through border patrol can be tedious, and having to sit in traffic in the hottest parts of the country could be harmful to your body. Another reason that this route could have been rejected is the fact that it only goes through around five countries with disease when it is supposed to be used to transport medicine. Another route that goes through more countries where infections have risen could be more beneficial and cost conservative.