Extract Copy and paste

Source: The Economist

Link:

Railways in Africa (Kenia?) Puffed out

Africa’s new railways risk going the way of the old ones

If only governments were as enthusiastic about maintaining infrastructure as they are about building it.

On a continent where almost everything is reused, from mobile-phone parts to plastic bags, governments (Kenian?) seem to prefer to buy shiny new things, however expensive.

Rehabilitating the older line might have cost just 5% as much as building a new one on a new right of way, reckons Pierre Pozzo di Borgo of the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank.

Could this be because the new railway is a dud investment? Its fastest trains will do a fairly mediocre 80kph.

Much as with the old railway, parts of the new line will be single-track, forcing trains to stop, often for hours, to let others pass.

Most absurdly, it is built to a lower standard of load-bearing than most other new freight railways.

Some fret it may not be possible to load four full containers onto each wagon, as is done on other new lines. “They’re getting a third-rate railway for the cost of a very expensive one,” says a consultant.

The new track is costing Kenya about $4 billion, mostly funded by a loan from the Chinese ExIm bank, but how it will be repaid is unclear.

Although only a year remains before completion, not only are tariffs and rates undecided, but it is not even clear who will run the railway.

Kenyan officials have apparently taken to skipping trade conferences of late to avoid answering questions.

Comment Two: Copy and Paste

The Kenyan railway project eptomises all that is wrong with infrastructure projects in many African countries;

1 Excessive cost; the existing line could have been upgraded at 5% of the cost of the new project. However, high cost projects have good political PR value and provide more opportunities for skimming off funds.

2 No economic rationale or long term planning; cost/benefit analysis on many of these projects is simply non existant.

3 Doomed to failure; the absence of any maintenance programme has and will continue to consign these projects to long term failure.

At their worst these projects are simply great opportunities for skimming off government funds; at their best they display as much long term planning as a Donald Trump speech.

Not very useful comment below

Watched a video by a Kenyan with knowledge about transport on a certain thread with Ndii, and this were his comments

1-No one need or benefits from cargo moving more that 40km/h
a client will not opt to pay 100/- for same day delivery if there is a 5/- option but 10 times slower.

2-Passengers want to get to their destinations faster, but world over mass passenger transport is very expensive and largely unprofitable unless heavily subsided by the govt.

3-There is the vague agreement to compensate RVR for lost business with the SGR construction.

4-who said we needed to raise our single line, this will bring maintenance costs high and separate the wildlife habitat it's trying to over-pass, ie apart from where we have pillars the rest of the railway creates a big barrier with tunnel like crossings which animals will definitely avoid.

5-the proposed cost for a Nairobi Mombasa ticket is 5,000/- for this amount one can fly return at 6,000/- plus most Kenyans who would like to use the train would rather stick to Chania at 700/- the other option would be for the government to subsidize it heavily to below 1,000/- which does not help seeing the huge debt.

6-BUT because we have built it,our problem now is to make it make economic sense,already this is shaky seeing the Uganda,Rwanda being unsure if to proceed, taking the railway to naivasha is also stupid, we would rather extend the southern bypass to Nakuru instead.

The railway will be cheered like jambojet then the customers who can afford will use it the mass will stick to good old buses

I remember we complained the same way about Thika Road... In addition, people keep mixing up UG pipeline and UG railway line. Rwanda opted for TZ because UG prioritized Juba over Kigali. UG will still connect to our SGR. Also, has it been really confirmed that the fare will be 5k, or are we just being typical Kenyans?

Spare your emotions. That same economist published an article that Kenya had 13000 deaths in 2013. I wonder where they get the numbers.



http://www.economist.com...c78ce91909083042ad12e30