Railway Developments in Africa: A Missed Opportunity?
The railway renaissance in Africa is well and truly underway with the continent witnessing an unprecedented development of railway infrastructure. The construction of new railway lines in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria, to name a few, bears testimony to this new wave of development.?
At first glance, these are commendable developments on the continent which call for celebration. After all, these are Africa's first major post-independence new railway projects - no small feat in a continent where nearly the entire railway network dates back to colonial times.?
However, an uncomfortable realisation arises on a closer examination of the development choices that have been made - hardly any of the new railway lines have opened up new corridors. Instead, most of them simply mirror the pre-independence corridors as demonstrated by the new standard gauge railway lines in Kenya (Mombasa-Nairobi SGR), Ghana (Takorodi-Kumasi SGR), and Tanzania (Dar-Dodoma-Mwanza SGR). ?
These developments make me wonder why the powers-that-be decided to build the new lines along the old ones instead of opening up new corridors. I think that not only has this rendered the old railway infrastructure redundant, but the continent has missed a big opportunity to open up new logistics and economic corridors. I guess only time will tell whether the current railway development choices in Africa have been sound.
SAQA QUAL ID:57803 QUALIFICATION TITLE:Further Education and Training Certificate: Fire and Rescue Operations PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY:LG SETA
3 年How do these countries protect their rail infrastructure,whilst ours stripped bare??
Senior Manager at PRASA
3 年The old colonial railway lines were efficient in linking up raw materials production zones to ports solely for colonial markets abroad, this led to towns and cities being build at those particular strategic nodes along the railway lines. The same trend continued post independence till the decline and collapse of rail in Africa. The politics and economics of Africa hasn't changed that much since, save for rapid urbanisation that remained stuck on the old towns along the rail becoming cities. The role of rail as a bulk transporter may thus be reversed to service these new urban centres with respect to consumer goods being moved regionally, thus the spatial formations make it only possible to upgrade the existing corridors. until Africa invests in new smarter ports, manufacturing centres and new cities, we kind if stuck in a railways retrofitting exercise!
Technical and Business Executive :Afri-Track Group Holdings(Pty)Ltd
3 年Johan Stewart Laubscher Johan Steenkamp Wilbard Nashima Leon Steyn