Why China is Building Africa’s Railways

say you want to travel across europe or china japan india even parts of the us you could take a train if you wanted to but in africa a large-scale train network doesn't really exist and for the fastest urbanizing area on the planet that's a problem to fill this pretty critical infrastructure gap africa is undergoing a railway renaissance and it's being built in large parts by china 10.8 billion chinese-built railway is meant to supplement the current line built by british colonialists these mega projects are more than just impressive feats of engineering passing through safari camps and the east african desert they're symbols of better connected societies economic opportunity international alliances soft power and a shifting balance in the world of construction to really understand why china is building railways in africa you have to rewind a bit we could go way back but let's start here the bang doon conference in 1955 leaders from 29 asian and african nations met in the hopes of working together in the wake of western colonialism from that international solidarity came the tazara railway which opened in 1975. the railroad was financed and mostly built by china and it provided the landlocked country of zambia with a thousand eight hundred sixty kilometers linked to tanzania and a way to export its copper to global market without crossing white minority-ruled territories since then chinese investment in africa has exploded from about 75 million us dollars in 2003 to roughly 2.7 billion in 2019 now more than 30 percent of china's investment in africa is in the construction sector china has become the most important source of development finance in africa in the past we talked about railroad imperialism but now nobody is really investing as much as china in this railroad connectivity [Music] china's built a massive high-speed rail network in a matter of years and it's now bringing that expertise to africa [Music] two of its biggest investments in east africa are the addis ababa djibouti railway and the kenya standard gage railway the four billion dollar chinese-built line across ethiopia stretches 756 kilometers from the landlocked capital of addis ababa to the port of djibouti with commercial operations beginning in 2018 it's now the backbone of the ethiopian national railway network construction involved modernizing an old deteriorated meter gauge railway by upgrading it to the chinese electrified railway standard making it the first of its kind in east africa the locomotives are supplied by chinese contractors and are built to withstand altitude differences of up to 2000 meters daytime temperatures of up to 50 degrees celsius and cold nights one promise of the railway was to provide convenient air conditioned travel passenger volumes haven't been as high as expected with only 84 000 people traveling in 2019 and the service isn't always reliable but a big part of the railway's long-term potential is in freight transport more than 90 of ethiopia's international trade passes through djibouti and the new line carries roughly a quarter of all ethiopian imports and exports still freight volumes haven't come close to reaching their full capacity yet and unsurprisingly the railway is struggling to turn a profit seventy percent of the project was funded using loans from china's state-owned exim bank and in 2019 both passenger and cargo combined only brought in 40 million dollars well below the 70 million cost of actually operating the line the problem is that if you don't have freight or passengers that go through the railroad then of course you cannot generate enough income to repay the loans and so this is kind of a vicious circle over in kenya the standard gauge railway opened in 2017 with a route length of 480 kilometers the 3.8 billion high-speed railway is kenya's largest infrastructure project since it gained independence in 1963. construction led by china road and bridge corporation involved building long viaducts deep cuttings and long embankments to navigate the rugged terrain along the route as you might expect building a project of this scale through the stunning natural habitats that kenya is known for has proven to be a difficult balancing act two sections of the railroad running through national parks faced protests from conservationists over concerned that it could threaten the wildlife in response designers added 14 wildlife channels and elevated sections of the track now complete the railway is a game changer for both trade and transportation in the region the passenger service has cut travel time from mombasa to nairobi from more than 10 hours to roughly 5 hours with a 10 economy ticket in its second year of service the kenyan railway transported 1.7 million passengers and the freight service ferried roughly 5 million tons of goods on chinese supplied locomotives china's approach to infrastructure development is attractive for african countries because china isn't just providing the finance it's also this kind of one-stop shop that can supply everything for the life cycle of a project when dealing with china things are simple you don't have to balance multiple actors interests or take them into consideration but once again things have gotten messy when it comes to money china's ex-im bank financed 90 percent of the projects and now kenya is struggling to pay back its loans and because both of these railways are built to a chinese standard any major upgrades or even parts that need to be replaced will have to come from china china's investments in foreign infrastructure goes way beyond these railways around the world it's financing and constructing hundreds of infrastructure projects through its massive belton road initiative based on their own development experience the chinese are believers in the power of infrastructure and its ability to catalyze economic activity engaging with partners that have this appetite for infrastructure development works for africa in africa alone china is estimated to have won almost half of all engineering procurement and construction contracts but those contracts haven't come without controversy the country has been accused of unfair labor practices in africa including bringing its own workers instead of hiring locally some studies have shown that chinese firms actually do hire large numbers of local employees but the top management positions are still dominated by chinese staff the construction of the ethiopian railway employed roughly 20 000 local workers in ethiopia and 5 000 in djibouti there's no african standard for building railways so trying to link up colonial era tracks with newer chinese standard lines is a massive undertaking that's all to say that china's involvement in african infrastructure is a complicated nuanced investment but relying so heavily on a single country to finance your development is a risky bet you have africa needing basic industrial infrastructure you know your railways your roads your ports your energy plants african countries not having the kind of financial watches needed and with western lenders kind of reluctant to invest in massive infrastructure and the chinese kind of coming and saying hey you know we can do this not only can we provide the finance but we can provide the skilled workers we can provide the construction companies you know what option does africa have china's revenue from construction projects in africa skyrocketed from the early 2000s to now but it's dropped off a bit since around 2015. [Music] while it's not clear how long the money will keep flowing china's railways in africa are laying the tracks for a long-term relationship between the two locations if that partnership lasts then china's railway legacy could stretch far beyond its own borders if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make sure you subscribe to the b1m [Music] you

Channel: The B1M

Views: 1,640,151

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, china, africa, kenya, nairobi, mombasa, ethiopia, djibouti, addis ababa, china high speed rail, chinese standard railway, electric railway, freight, trade, asia, safari, trains, train, rail, railroad, railway, tazara railway, zambia, east africa, kenya standard gague railway, ethio-djibouti railway, addis-ababa-djibouti railway, belt and road, foreign direct investment, construction contracts

Id: _z4iVqd-Tkk

Length: 9min 17sec (557 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 20 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

There is a shitload of scaremongering language running throughout the video.

It's amusing how the the African woman is the actual voice of reason in terms of making sense as to why such construction is happening.

[u/xerotul]

"The line doesn't bring in enough to pay the $70 million operating cost"

The railway enables economic growth. This growth might need 20+ years to make the railway profitable. They had a team spent months researching the project to make economic projections than this YouTuber spent a day on it.

[u/we-the-east]

"but at what cost???"

[u/FuMunChew]

Pity about the stupid opinions injected in to an otherwise potentially good video.

Instead of seeing the railway as an asset and an economic generator, they had to add in nonsense about 'risky bet'

don't get the issue with everything being reliant on china either. If it was built by someone-else it would be the same issue. Did the PHD woman not mention it was a one stop shop solution (which also keeps cost down)

And the nonsense about labour, of course the top end management will likely be Chinese engineers bc of know how and efficiency, again cost management.

Once again western people with their heads up their arse.

[u/ayamrice]

western only interpret chinese development by their own narrow lens, which is short term profit and ROI. It is like a get rich quick scam.

Nevermind the long term economic growth it can help to spur or job opportunities or tech transfer.