foreign media: china revitalizes decades-old southern african railway
2024-09-07
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tanzanian newspaper citizen, september 4, article titled: project to activate tanzania-zambia railway is one step closer to realityon september 4, tanzania, zambia and china signed a preliminary agreement to activate the decades-old tanzania-zambia railway, thereby improving the rail and ocean transport network in resource-rich east africa. that morning, chinese president xi jinping witnessed the signing of the "memorandum of understanding on the tanzania-zambia railway activation project" at the great hall of the people in beijing with tanzanian president hassan and zambian president hichilema, who were in china to attend the beijing summit of the forum on china-africa cooperation. the three parties did not state how much the project would cost or what financing model it would adopt, but in february this year, china proposed to activate the railway through a government and social capital cooperation model.
from 1970 to 1975, china assisted in the construction of the 1,860.5-kilometer tanzania-zambia railway, which runs from the tanzanian port city of dar es salaam in the east to kapiri mposhi in central zambia in the west. the railway line was designed to reduce the economic dependence of landlocked zambia on rhodesia (now zimbabwe) and south africa, both of which were ruled by white regimes at the time.
for zambia's copperbelt province, the tanzania-zambia railway provided the only route to the seaport without crossing white-ruled land. the entire railway was officially opened to traffic in 1976. tens of thousands of central african workers participated in this years-long project, building more than 20 tunnels and hundreds of bridges.
on september 4, when meeting with tanzanian president hassan, the chinese leader pointed out that china is willing to take this summit as an opportunity to promote new progress in the activation of the tanzania-zambia railway, cooperate to improve the east african rail-sea transport network, and build tanzania into a demonstration zone for deepening high-quality china-africa cooperation in jointly building the "belt and road".
according to a statement issued by tanzania, this will bring more tangible benefits to the tanzanian people. the statement said, "president hassan also invited chinese private enterprises to come to tanzania to invest in areas such as alternative energy production and communication infrastructure." president hassan also said that the existing bilateral relations between the two countries need to be maintained, especially in infrastructure investment, in line with china's "belt and road" initiative.
tanzanian ambassador to china khamis omar also stressed the need to enhance tanzania-china relations in an interview with chinese media, saying that china is currently tanzania's main trading and investment partner.
earlier this year, the world bank approved $270 million in financing to help improve connectivity between tanzania and zambia and boost regional trade.
bloomberg, september 4, original title: china signs agreement to revitalize decades-old southern african railwayon september 4, china signed a deal to activate the tanzania-zambia railway to help landlocked zambia, africa’s second-largest copper producer, export copper through tanzania, marking the start of the railway’s biggest upgrade since it was built in the 1970s.
the tanzania-zambia railway connects mines in zambia to tanzania's ports on africa's east coast and plays a key role in exporting copper.
since zambia requested help to activate the line, the chinese government has acted quickly. in december last year, china civil engineering group co., ltd. sent experts to inspect the line. in february this year, china formally submitted a business plan for the tazara railway activation project to tanzania. consultations were subsequently held and eventually led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between china, zambia and tanzania on september 4.
the tanzania-zambia railway is representative of china-africa relations and is the first major infrastructure project built by china on the african continent. bruno chinandou, director of the tanzania-zambia railway authority, said in an interview last month that the "tanzania-zambia railway is unparalleled" in terms of transporting minerals to the far east. he said: "the chinese sent several teams to check the bridges and all the infrastructure along the route. they have a clear idea of what needs to be done."
the memorandum of understanding signed by the three parties also reflects that china is now taking a more cautious attitude towards carrying out foreign infrastructure projects. china civil engineering group co., ltd. proposed to use the government and social capital cooperation model to revive the tanzania-zambia railway, which focuses more on developing and operating concessions on a commercial basis. zambian economist trevor simonba believes that "this is a test for china, and i have a hunch that it will succeed." (source: global times author: matthew hill, translated by wang huicong)
