Marshall Islands - Infrastructure, power, and communications

Perhaps because the country's limited roadways are scattered widely across the many islands, there are no measurements of roadway length on the Marshall Islands. The main settlements on Majuro Atoll and Kwajalein have paved roads, and the roads in Majuro have recently been upgraded. Elsewhere there are coral surfaced roads and sandy tracks. There are no railways. The main port is at Majuro, and this is the only port that is able to receive large ocean-going vessels. A dry-dock facility was recently completed on Majuro Atoll for the islands' fleet of 143 ships, mostly bulk and cargo carriers, petroleum tankers, and a vehicle carrier. Sixteen of the inhabited atolls and islands have airports and 4 have paved runways.

All of the Marshall Islands' electricity is supplied by diesel generators. In 1994, the Marshall Islands generated and consumed 57 million kilowatt hours (kWh). There is some domestic use of bottled gas, and many families use kerosene stoves or wood as cooking fuel. The water supply is erratic, and there are projects to increase water storage facilities and to construct desalinization plants.

In 1994, there were an estimated 3,000 land line telephones in use and 280 mobile telephones. The 3 major settlements of Majuro Atoll and the islands of Ebeye and Kwajalein are connected by a direct dial system; the other locations are linked by shortwave radiotelephone, mainly used by the government. International links are provided by 2 Intelsat satellite earth stations. There is a U.S. government satellite link on Kwajalein Island.

The islands had 3 AM radio stations and 4 FM stations in 1998, and in 1997, there were 3 television stations, although 2 of these were provided by the U.S. military on Kwajalein Island. The local newspaper is the weekly Marshall Islands Journal.