"The line doesn't bring in enough to pay the $70m operating cost" - countries really need to get over this idea that the railway itself needs to be profitable... the railway ENABLES profitability in other businesses, through movement of people and goods. Yes, the government has to put in $30m of funding each year, but if they are getting more than an extra $30m of taxes due to the extra economic activity, that's worthwhile.

As a Kenyan, I can confirm that things have changed for the better since Chinese introduced the gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi. I now wish that Chinese could expand the current SGR railway between to other areas beyond Nairobi into Kampala Uganda and Kigali Rwanda.

The Ethiopia railway line only opened in 2018. Revenue growth from $40m in 2019, $62m in 2020, $86m in 2021. Looks like a healthy growth to me.

I took the Chinese-built train in Kenya and it was great. It made traveling between Nairobi and Mombasa a lot more feasible with my limited time.

Obviously, China isn't in the business of providing simple-charity, but I think a lot of people (particularly here in the West) fail to appreciate the enormous boost this infrastructure gives to developing regions. The debt-trap aspects are indeed disconcerting, but the economic development spurred by these projects will have an enormous impact on the nations' finances and ability to pay back loans. Africa is the fastest-developing region on Earth, and I think many underestimate just how much economic power and global influence African countries will soon have. Ultimately, someone had to be the one to bet on Africa's rise, and it just happens to be the world's largest economy (by purchasing-power) to do so. Americans resent China's soft-power over Africa, but we could have easily been the ones to develop these crucial diplomatic links with the developing countries of the world; instead, we've failed to even develop our own transportation infrastructure.

As someone from one of the countries with rail built by china (Kenya) There's advantages and downsides of it. But in my opinion the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The rail network is now controlled by Kenyans ,but we're still yet to pay off the loan

Many people have stated it clearly, for any infostructure project, if you just look at it alone, highly likely it is loosing money. However, you need to consider them as a public good which can bring other business. You need to think about the big picture rather than the bill in front of your eyes. Besides, China has done knowledge transfers to the locals as well by training local engineers and stuffs to operate, maintain, and build this kind of railway. It is a huge intangible asset.

Hats off to China for actually developing Africa, when the European and US colonialists forced far harsh loans but they didn’t didn’t actually develop the country (and in many senses tried to prohibit development) but just guaranteed trade routes to extract profit, and interfering with politics. China have a policy of trying to avoid political interference, and on top of that they are actually making Africa gradually more advanced which will benefit the public.

Not only that, china is also building railways in southeast Asia, recently a railway between china and Laos just opened

In 2002 when Kenya first adopted the look east policy, kenyas economy was just under $12b dollars, grown by only $2b by from 1964, on the back of Chinese infrastructure projects and investment , after meaningless 50 year engagement with western trading partners, now over 20 years later, the Kenyan economy is $106b, in the next 30, 1trillion dollars by estimate, GDP per capita has quadripled, 15 million pulled out of poverty, country transitioned from low income To middle income, HDI grown from 0.4 low to 0.6 medum. In 20 years, electricity connections from under 10% to 85%. Kenya now leads the world in mobile money technology, geothermal energy, and East africa remains among the world fastest growing region. The average Kenyan doesn’t care whether the railway comes from China or America whatever, but people are happy their kids aren’t dying due to lack of hospitals, that they now have power, can take an engineering or artificial intelligence course in newly built universities in their hometown like anywhere in the world. Be blind if you want to, but the only way western countries can beat China in Africa is by outinvesting it.

I hope China can do the same in Brazil, I'd really appreciate a railway crossing the coast from north to south, first.

It took decades for Chinese engineers to learn, train and develop the skills just to build rail and bridge infrastructures in China so as to maintain safety and durability. Therefore, Africans need the same learning curve to gain the skills, expertise, knowledge and experiences as they studied in Chinese universities before they could bring all these to Africa. It takes time and efforts. In order for Africa to develop faster, Chinese companies move their engineers and managers to Africa to help. Some Africans benefits from on-job training while top African engineers study in Chinese universities.

Fun fact: Tanzania Zambia Railway was built by China in Mao era. Zero interest loan of 1 billion RMB when China was poor by themselves, plus 56k Chinese workers and experts. 69 of them were buried in Tanzania for the noble course.

At least China built something, unlike "beloved" West.....

I have watched a few such videos. The focus is always on operating losses. It's obviously a wrong way to measure success. Connectivity brings business activities which generate additional tax income for the government, create jobs for the locals and many other benefits. On top of that the social aspect is often forgotten. With high speed train network, people enjoy shorter travel time and good explorations in the region. In short, citizens become happier. It's priceless.

Those who bashing anything China do in Africa should offer their help or counter offers to those countries instead of spreading lies.

Some people would rather sell weapons to our military dictatorships than help us finance roads, rail hospitals and houses. When someone else decided to help they make a fuss about it. SMH As long as they take adequate loans and face critical projects that can help develop the economies of the various countries even faster then I'm sure they'll be able to pay back.

if you don't like it then don't take it, nobody is forcing, there's contract, it's all written, if you failed to pay what's gonna happen the railway gonna be owned by China, they agree to do this. it's like loaning money from bank, if you failed to pay it back then your home gonna get taken away by the bank, simple. what's so hard to understand? the west like to criticize on the debt trap, is it debt trap if it's known? bank loaning money is debt trap then? if you're so worried why don't you provide better alternative to the countries in Africa? offers better project? why can't you? if what China offers is not good enough then what should we say about the offers from countries in the west? IMF interest for the loan is higher than what China offers but you rarely hear anything about it.

very good journalism. keep up the good work.

The reasoning is extremely simple. If countries/organisations can offer loans that are not as "bad" as Chinese ones then obviously no one would prefer China's loans. So the obvious question is what stops people who lament about "Chinese takeover of Africa" to actually help Africa. The truth is for all their pseudo-concern they really don't care about Africa. The average Western citizen believes that it is African people that are the cause of their continent's banes and the Western Colonialism had a trivial part to play if not outright denying the evils of Colonialism. The governments of the West have their own geopolitical and economic interests in keeping Africa poor. China for one sees an opportunity in Africa unlike the West. It creates necessary infrastructure that will boost the local economies unlike West that is solely interested on only looting the continent. As for those who argue about debt traps, don't you really know how IMF and WB loans work? Moreover China doesn't interfere too much in the political status quo of the nations it engages with. Unlike the IMF, WB loans or even the famed "Western aid/philanthropy" that many of you wax eloquent about? Much of this aid is made sure to work back into the pockets of the West and its lackeys in the target nations and have their own conditions that target nations must meet. How many of you know that World Bank actively discourages projects that seeks to rehabilitate slum dwellers in their actual locations itself (which usually happen to be in prime locations of the city) and instead prefer to dump them outside the cities, ironic given that many people who stay in slums are those actively involved in occupations inside the city? But yeah it is the Chinese loans alone that harbour insidious intent, right?

Kenya's economy, as the gateway to East and Central Africa was barely growing before China. Once Kenya welcomed China, all other EAC members have been attracting both Asian and white investors. Kenya is not "relying solely" on China for development as you've out it. Both Britain and America have heavy investments in Kenya from finance to military. The French are also getting good deals in Kenya (Nairobi Railway City & Nakuru - Mau Summit highway). I wonder why the skepticism when it comes to China. A win for Kenya & Ethiopia is a win for everyone in Eastern Africa and even western Europe.

Railway is the coolest form of transport.

Its so funny, when China owns 1.5 trillion USA debt they say nothing... but when China owns a few billion in African debt, they claim debt trap... 😂

Transportation is one of the most important means for economic growth in any country.They will be appreciate this sooner or later.

In Nigeria, we are having China construct many railways to connect all part of the country. They also have to hire Nigerians, so there can be skill transfer. We are also reviving our steel plant which is the largest in Africa but have not been functioning to it full capacity due to government neglect. I don’t like when people associate China and African countries relationship as colonialism because if anybody understand colonialism they will see how different things are going. Everybody wants to work with Africa because they are trying to maintain good relationship and tap into the market due to emerging middle class and young population, so Africans can dictate who they want to work with and without.

If some countries can devote 1% of the energy from blaming China everyday to think about how to help African countries and implement them, I think Africa could develop much faster.

It's funny how westerners would view China doing this as villainous but if Western countries did the same, it'd be seen as much less so

Thank you for your balanced and unbiased neutral opinions about these railway projects! Unbiased report about China is rarely seen these days from the mainstream media.

Sometimes, big projects that don't bear fruit immediately can be the catalyst for greater growth. This is probably one of them; Africa has always needed infrastructure but no one wanted to commit the resources and technology because they cannot overcome the chasm of unpredictable returns. China took that risk and hopefully, it will pay off for all.

Call it colonialism or debt diplomacy but as a citizen on the ground who's benefiting from the infrastructure im glad China is investing in 🇰🇪

Nice, have a happy new year!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Loving this one thanks for sharing very information blessed love to all knowledge is power hopefully everyone pays attention keep up the good work 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲

it's ok for US to supprt war in Africa But it's not ok for china to build a Railways in Africa

These are not short-term gain projects. Massive infrastructure projects like these take decades to turn "profitable". China, typically, is not in it for the short-term. They invest in the long-term win-win situation for both parities.

I totally agree with @audigex ... with what you said here... it is not about the profitability of the railway itself but of elevating people's standards of living (reducing travel times by a factor of 1/2) and allowing businesses to move their goods to ports where they can be exported. The backbone of any country's progress is its infrastructure (railways and highways) and an excellent mass transport system.

You're forgetting that Ethiopia has been going through a civil war for the past year which has paralyzed a lot of economic activity. It is no wonder that the train system is not getting enough passengers and freight to turn a profit.

If China doesn't give them the loan who else will?....many are focusing on the negatives but there is lots of positives ... A lot was mentioned about previous colonial powers in this videos But nothing was said in depth about how they especially robbed and mined Africa to death and debt. At least Kenya is getting something in return

I think if Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Angola, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are thoroughly link with each other by China standard gauge, it will be a game changer and the railways will bring lot of development to a number of sectors. I'm just wondering which will be the first sub-Saharan country that will have a HSR in its territory.

Stocks are falling and bond yields are rising, but markets still don't seem convinced the Federal Reserve will pursue plans to keep increasing interest rates until inflation is under control. I'm still at a crossroads deciding if to liquidate my $150,000 stock portfolio, what's the best way to take advantage of this bear market?

Its funny to see in the comments people think this is colonialism… they obviously don’t know what colonialism is

SGR in Kenya has brought with it the kind of development which may have taken more than ten years to be realized. The project is good in itself.The road networks are also good and will help enhance development The railway should have extended to Kisumu Nairobi Mombasa expressway was to be done by an American company

In central America too since china started investing in Panama there has been a big improvement in developing a new country plus new projects are on the way new canal in Nicaragua new stadium, public library new Port and a water plan...china helps without interference giving respect the spect to the SOVEREIGN countries

Saw a clip from you on The Daily Show! 👌

Is there a ridiculous idea that this is a debt trap? Let's face it! No one country can help another country free of charge, the Chinese way of doing business, unlike the west, the Chinese are sold you a "fishing rod" not free "fish" for you, because the fish will be finished, but if you learned how to fishing that is a win-win situation, business is business, don't want other people to help free, that is the real trap!

For these kind of infrastructure projects, you can't expect to break even in a short period of time. You need to take a long term view. Western countries often don't understand that

As an American, I wish we would join the Belt and Road Initiative. To say we need it is an understatement. We need help with our infrastructure and job programs, but my country is run by Cold War psychopaths.

I certainly hope to see high-speed rail in Africa before in California.

Investment in Africa is a long term investment and gain. They are more than animal parks for tourists. By building and helping to build infrastructure that links the different parts together and to the rest of the world, you establish friendships between countries and trade links that will improve both societies. I say in 40 years, Africa will turn it's back on Europe and the West and look towards the East for trade partners and the West will be left wondering why and how did this happen.

"Top management positions are still dominated by Chinese staff." Isn't that the point? Making use of Chinese expertise to build high-standard railways in countries where resources may be harder to come by?

Not charity, but rather pragmatic business deals and relationship building, with a significant tangible net benefit for the people.

The Chinese even built railways in North America, but the Anglo-saxons took the credits as always.

$40m revenue vs $70m cost in the first year, I'd say within 5-10 years this project is totally sustainable according to our experience in China. 10 years ago there are huge debates within China about whether high speed railway can turn a profit ever. Now there are more and more profitable tracks, some of them even make big money. You can almost never make money in the early years of an infrastructure project, waiting longer will only cause rising cost in the future, thus making the project even financially impossible. And never forget as infrastructure, most of its benefits is beyond its own financial statement. The time saved by passengers, jobs created, real estates developed due to connectivity, as well as lower transportation cost of trade goods. In fact these benefits are far larger than its own profit.

Decades ago I discovered that Africa had minimal railways, primarily from mines to the coast. The lack of investment by the west limited this continent while others industrialized. China's brilliant geopolitical move will bring Africa into the wealth of industrialization.

So glad for Africa. Keep it up!

The interest rates for Chinese housing loans are around 3% -4% annually, but the interest rates for loans to African states are only around 2%. The Chinese government should really treat its own people better!

This kind of projects will take years before it reaches the return of investment. I hope this new infra will bring economic growth and stability to the nation.

People outside can say Debt trap , Extracting resources etc . But in a situation when no other foreign entities willing to bet except China then it’s too tempting for a country to reject it.

A secondary but direct benefit of building more railways is the ability to sell more locomotives and rolling stock

Best wishes for Africa. I hope they will have a glorious future.

China is doing a great job improving the infrastructure of Africa. Hats off to Chinese engineers who helped build the railway in other countries.

Just a small tip. The logo you use at 3:55 of Eximbank is actually from a bank in Vietnam. The Exim Bank of China has a different logo.

Convenient transportation can improve the efficiency of social operations, reduce prices, improve the competitiveness of export products, and also help attract foreign investment. Of course, the government must balance the management of the debt ratio.

Is the sound effect for the photos slide @1:15 you striking a lighter ? That's what it sounds like haha

I wouldn't worry about the railway standards being chinese, on the contrary, I think that its better that a continent as a whole has one single standard than multiple ones since that allows a complete and connected network to be linked up in the future. Its easier for an american or european (or even african) railway manufacturer to build trains with chinese standards than it is to build a train that can run on multiple standards. Only the future will tell how things will turn out for the countries who participate in the B&R program, as a european I can only say that I'm glad that it is not our responsibility.

One interesting point though, when Kenya issues Eurobonds, which are often oversubscribed, it's been hard to get by comments such as debt trap and etc. On the other hand, taking a loan from China, which will be repaid obviously, attracts all manner of comments and epithets. It just seems like some people are still daydreaming about the colonial days. Kenya is an independent country and welcomes every good idea available out there but I guess no one can swallow humiliation and insults of the yesteryears in this century.

Im just happy to see Africa grow and gain recognition

I will travel to African countries one day. it looks good now with cool infrastructures. well done!

I wish governments in South America would have similiar projects with China. We need to develop a good railways network.

I mean its got a reailway at least, imagine only needing to go 5 hours rather than 10 hours

I bet 30 years from now, Africa would be a major player in would stage.

THE Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, which runs from Addis Ababa to the port in Djibouti City, recorded $US 86.13m in revenue in 2021. That's what I saw when I searched on google.

For people constantly saying it's a debt trap, you have to know China's own railway network is also not really benefiting. China built the railways because it increases stability, decreases unemployment and enhances economic ties along the regions that rail crosses. Infrastructures are used to increase a country's soft power instead of waiting for them to print money.

I just can't see Alstom or Seimens building this , especially for 3.5 billion. If anything Kenya would be in debt $25 billion , that'd why China fits nicely in this picture

From what I can understand, these projects aren't simply charity, but an investment for both countries. Whatever happens, I just hope that Africa thrives in the end.

We need to gave respect where respect is due.A lot of countries in the west was never gonna do this for Africa for whatever reason.I am thankful that China has taken the time to help out like this Now its up to African governments to make this work. Sometimes we need to look at thing's from different perspectives.

Amazing content B1M. Thank you for coming to Kenyan.

why always need to pick something of a normal business trade and turn in to negative, like" repair parts have to come from China" . its like saying China buying Airbus its a problem,, because repair parts has to come from Europe ! so don't buy Airbus ?

In China, there is a saying that "要想富，先修路". Only through the first passage can we promote the exchanges of people and trade and become more prosperous. By the end of 2021, China will have 40,000 km of high-speed rail mileage, and by the end of 2025, China will have 60,000 km of high-speed rail mileage. We also hope to share the best products, technologies, and successful experiences with Africa. We all came out of poverty and colonization. I hope that the African brothers can also get better and better, and the best wishes come from China.

There is an old Chinese saying: if you want to be rich, build roads first. This is the experience of China's development。

From Kenya and i have watched all your videos. Good stuff!

When Malaysia was developing its manufacturing sectors in 80s & 90s, all the American factories in Malaysia from CEO down to managers level are American expatriates! I am shocked when that comment is made about China.

Turkey is becoming a major player in civil construction of Railway is Africa.

Man i was shazaming like crazy so many awesome tracks 😂

First, China has indeed done charity. In the 1970s, China had not even solved the problem of food at that time. However, Mao Zedong decided based on the theory of national liberation that China fully funded the construction of a railway of more than 1,000 kilometers from Tanzania to Zambia, and more than 70 Chinese workers died at the construction site. Please note that these two African countries first sought help from the Western colonists who had just been driven out by them. But the result can be guessed. In addition, China did not provide interest-free loans to build this railway, but gave it as a gift. (Half of the construction fund is the loan and all is exempted) Second, Chinese loans accounted for only 1.8% of Africa's total debt. The average interest rate on Chinese loans is the lowest. If African countries fall into a debt crisis, it is obviously not because of Chinese loans. Moreover, Chinese loans are all concentrated in the field of production rather than in the field of "freedom and democracy." Third, there are no political conditions attached to Chinese loans. China will not stipulate that a country that takes a Chinese loan must abolish the death penalty for drug dealers. Fourth, many Westerners speak nonsense with their eyes open. They are always avoiding a question. Why is the relationship between China and Africa so good? As long as you stand in the Western Museum and take a look at the exhibits.。

Western countries should stop viewing everything through geopolitical lenses. If you dont like China’s projects, why don’t start your own in African? Set up a model project completely run by African, from top management to manual labors, and turning profit every year. Show the world how it should be done. Let Africans be the final judges!

The most disappointing thing is that the Chinese is doing morally right thing to Africa. That’s fucking so hard for Anglo Saxon to swallow it is a iron reality.

There were several projects for Chinese-built railroads in Venezuela. They have stopped due to the unprecedented drop in Venezuelan oil exports. Hopefully, they can restart soon and connect parts of the country that depend on terrible roads. If you build it, it will come (progress, essentially).

@4:00 can you guys get the right logo, that’s the Vietnamese exon bank logo, not the Chinese one? this really grinds my gears. Source: I used to work for the China exim-bank.

Your reporting just keep getting better and better. It is informative, well documented, unbiased and great cinematography.

This was a pretty cool video man! I learned so much from it. I'm glad Africa is at least getting some support for infrastructure

Nice

I remember back in the day, USSR gave us a lot of infrastructure. I lived near the power plant they built. It gave employment to locals. It's still functional. West only gave us lecture and weapons to our enemies.

There are lots of fighting words in the comment section, but perhaps we can agree that of all the countries currently involved in railway building in Africa (China, Germany, France, Canada, Turkey), at least it is good that they are all building Standard Gauge Railways, so they can one day all be linked together to create a pan-African railway system.

"The line doesn't bring in enough to pay the $70m operating cost" Roads and Rails bring development to the towns along these roads and rails. It stimulates, grows and hasten the local economy. These are the intangibles that a profit driven guy from a capitalistic country will not understand. Using their western model where a project will not get built unless it'll give a profit in the first or early years, Africa will never ever have infrastructures built, will never ever develop. Maybe, this is what they want.

In 2021 Ethiopia - Djibouti Railway revenue has reached $86 million. Ethiopia export is expanding with the railway. Hopefully we can buy Ethiopian coffee bean at lower cost soon.

Its been established that outside countries funding infrastructure might not be so good afterall since host countries will likely not have money to repair these mega projects. Given that everything is sourced by China, prices could surely be higher.

I love how this man said Europe, Asia, Japan, India and *PARTS* of the US.

Amazing channel..good job

You edit your videos on CANVA?

What she said at 8:19 about sums it up right there.