China's Railway Project in Kenya

 The Conversation published on 29 May 2023 an article titled "China in Africa: Kenya Railway Study Shows Investment Projects Aren't a One-way Street" by Gediminas Lesutis, University of Amsterdam, and Zhengli Huang, Tongji University.

The study concluded that the decisions of Chinese state-owned enterprises in Kenya do not necessarily present a grand Chinese strategy.  Instead, they result from changing political and economic circumstances in China, and reflect both state and private Chinese interests.  The China Road and Bridge Corportation constantly shifted its strategies on Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway.  

Who Is Real Winner in Kenya's Chinese-built Railway?

Kenya's Daily Nation published on 10 June 2019 an article titled "Chinese Firms True Winners of SGR Project" by Edwin Okoth.

The Chinese-financed and built standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya has become largely an import tool to move cargo from Mombasa port inland with little being exported. For every 8 tons of cargo moving inland, just over one ton is exported. Much of the imported cargo comes from China.

Will the Chinese-built and Financed Railway in Kenya Be a Success?

CNN posted on 21 May 2019 an in depth story titled "A Legacy of Lunacy Haunts Kenya's Old Railway. Will China's $3.6B Line Be Different? by Jenni Marsh.

The Chinese-built and financed standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi has much to commend it including the fact that it now handles 40 percent of the freight arriving at Mombasa port compared to only 4 percent for Kenya's now defunct narrow gauge railway. But the new line has been plagued by controversy as well as accusations that it has resulted in huge debt to China that Kenya will find difficult to repay. In addition, China now seems unwilling to fund further sections of the standard gauge railway line. Kenya has borrowed a total of $9.8 billion from Beijing as of 2017, which constitutes about 21 percent of its external debt.

Tanzania Replaces Chinese Company with Turkish Company for Railway Project

Kenya's Standard Digital published on 8 October 2017 an article titled "Tanzania Building Electric Rail at Half Price of Kenya's Diesel Standard Gauge Railway Line" by Paul Wafula.

The article compares the process Kenya and Tanzania used to build a new standard gauge rail system in each country. Kenya opted for a no-bid contract with China Road and Bridge Corporation supported by Chinese financing. Tanzania quietly terminated a contract awarded to a Chinese construction company due to allegations of corruption and broke the project into four parts with four open bidding tenders and different funding sources. A Turkish and Portuguese consortium won the first phase and a Turkish company won the second phase. The article argues that the trains in Tanzania will travel much faster than those in Kenya and the project will cost less per kilometer.

The Expansion of Chinese Railways in Africa

Brookings published on 26 September 2014 a piece titled "Picking Up Steam: The Expansion of Chinese Railways in Africa" by Yun Sun, a visiting fellow at the Africa Growth Initiative.  The article summarizes China's extensive engagement in African railways throughout East Africa and the Horn, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Chad.