China has an excellent record in building railways. The China Railway Construction Corporation has built tens of thousands of kilometers of railways almost without any quality problems. Besides, the competition between CSR and China CNR Corporation, China's two giants that make rail transportation equipment, forces them to offer their best products and services to the market.
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In building railways, China usually offers only core technology and employs most of the workers from among local residents. So if it is asked to build railways in African countries, China can help create many jobs for the local people, which, in turn, will stimulate consumption and form a virtuous circle. That would once again give the lie to Western propaganda that China is practicing "neo-colonialism" in Africa.
But building railways in Africa will not be without problems, and continuous flow of funds could be the biggest one. That's why it is important that China concentrates on building normal (as opposed to high-speed) railways in Africa. Moreover, for most countries, especially those in Africa, high-speed railways can become an economic burden.
Also, China needs to delicately select routes to build railways in Africa; it has to conduct (or help conduct) a thorough study on whether a railway line will really boost the economy before embarking on its construction. It should, therefore, concentrate on building railways where there is ample need for freight transport, like concentrated plantations or mining sites, to ensure that they run on profits instead of subsidies.
Only in this way can railways built by China benefit African countries in a sustainable way.
The author is a professor of transportation economics at Beijing Jiaotong University. The article is an excerpt of his interview with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang.