Kenya returns to colonial rail after Beijing hits buffers

[cow]

Kenya returns to colonial rail after Beijing hits buffers

A stretch of colonial-era railway is being untangled from the bush in a realisation of Kenya’s most ambitious infrastructure project since independence.The lin

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[cow]

Kenya borrowing more money to pay debt to china

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com

China, which accounts for about one third of Kenya’s 2021-22 external debt service costs, is the nation’s biggest foreign creditor after the World Bank. Kenya plans to spend a total of 117.7 billion shillings on Chinese debt in the period, of which about 24.7 billion shillings is in interest payments and almost 93 billion shillings in redemptions, according to budget documents.

“The relief was useful, it gave Kenya a breather,” said John Mutua, a programs coordinator at Nairobi-based Institute of Economic Affairs. Resuming debt service “may mean borrowing more to plug the deficit, given covid-19 and the impact on revenue,” Mutua said, adding Kenya is heading into an election year when the economy usually slows down.

 

[cow]

Uganda defaulted on Chinese Debt and China took over the main airport of Uganda. the Auditor-General of Kenya confirmed that KPA (Mombasa port) was part of the deal which means when Kenya defaults on it loans to china the Mombasa port will be taken over by china.

 

[Nasser Nyerere]

Somebody scrap kenya along with somalia and toss it into the pit latrine.

What a shame.

 

[kickz]

Time to rename Nairobi to New Beijing

 

[Ras]

Trains are worth going into debt for. Average return in Africa is around 15% with the interest rate from Chinese debt being negligible.

Main issue is greedy governments redirecting the revenues from the train and not properly leveraging the assets by overpricing and limiting service.

Absolute master class in incompetence.

 

[cow]

Trains are worth going into debt for. Average return in Africa is around 15% with the interest rate from Chinese debt being negligible.

Main issue is greedy governments redirecting the revenues from the train and not properly leveraging the assets by overpricing and limiting service.

Absolute master class in incompetence.

Not if you cant pay your debt and the train line plus your biggest port being taking over by China, or going into more debt by borrowing money to pay off your current Chinese debts.

The rail line was a good idea, however it was implemented wrongly they should have first constructed a shorter route using kenyan companies then see the feasibility it is successful and profitable then construct Nairobi to Mombasa line.

what happened was China gave money to Kenya. Then kenya made a deal with a Chinese developer which used Chinese workers and Chinese materials. It created jobs for the Chinise and made the chinise developer rich while only low skilled kenyan day laborer's where used.

stuff like building roads and raiway should all be handled internally, one of the main reasons that western countries industrialized is because someone wants to do something i.e build a railway then 20 companies spring forth to take advantage of it

company a will start to supply steel
company b will start to supply engine
company c will start to supply plastic
company d will start to construct the trains and use company a,b,c and so forth.

but if everything is external then none of those companies will emerge as their is no gap to fill. yes it will be more expensive but you are also circling money internally and creating high skilled good paying jobs

 

[Ras]

Not if you cant pay your debt and the train line plus your biggest port being taking over by China, or going into more debt by borrowing money to pay off your current Chinese debts.

The rail line was a good idea, however it was implemented wrongly they should have first constructed a shorter route using kenyan companies then see the feasibility it is successful and profitable then construct Nairobi to Mombasa line.

what happened was China gave money to Kenya. Then kenya made a deal with a Chinese developer which used Chinese workers and Chinese materials. It created jobs for the Chinise and made the chinise developer rich while only low skilled kenyan day laborer's where used.

stuff like building roads and raiway should all be handled internally, one of the main reasons that western countries industrialized is because someone wants to do something i.e build a railway then 20 companies spring forth to take advantage of it

company a will start to supply steel
company b will start to supply engine
company c will start to supply plastic
company d will start to construct the trains and use company a,b,c and so forth.

but if everything is external then none of those companies will emerge as their is no gap to fill. yes it will be more expensive but you are also circling money internally and creating high skilled good paying jobs

In an ideal world that's the optimal option. However that requires them to wait for another 10-15 years before they have the skilled population for that.

Btw it isn't just 3-5 factories involved... there's a whole ecosystem of suppliers and smaller companies involved along with decades of trade secrets that you can't buy.

I'd rather take the debt hit as long as the asset pays for itself and trains almost always do in Africa.

15% profit is the average for these types of projects in Africa... that would easily cover their debt payments.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Trains are worth going into debt for. Average return in Africa is around 15% with the interest rate from Chinese debt being negligible.

Main issue is greedy governments redirecting the revenues from the train and not properly leveraging the assets by overpricing and limiting service.

Absolute master class in incompetence.

This is true. The problem is the inability of African governments to self-constrain and spend within their means while paying back these debts. The infrastructure being built by the Chinese is more than worth the cost.