Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Analysis of Kenya's New Chinese Built Railway

The China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies published in June 2017 a research paper titled "African Politics Meets Chinese Engineers: The Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway Project in Kenya and East Africa" by Uwe Wissenbach and Yuan Wang.

Kenya's new standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi was built by China Road and Bridge Corporation and financed largely by credits from China's Export Import Bank. The project has sparked controversy concerning its economic viability, corruption, opaque contracting practices, financing arrangements, and community and labor issues. The paper examines the way Kenyan politics have affected implementation of the standard gauge railway.