By Miroslav Atanasov, Ph.D., Renmin University of China

One of China's major infrastructure projects in Africa is construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) running from Kenya's port city Mombasa to Nairobi and to the western border town, Malaba.

Costing $US4 billion and providing 30,000 local jobs, the project would make Kenya, China's central technical training hub for railway experts in East and Central Africa.

Irungu Nyakera, Kenya's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, made the announcement last week.  Before completing the project, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has granted another $US10 million for necessary upgrades to Kenya's Railway Training Institute (RTI).

The funds will be used to construct a tower, to-be-completed in a year, which will accommodate the hub. The institute will provide training for railway specialists from the countries, which cluster around the SGR including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kenya's lecturers in this field will be training in China to fulfill their rail engineering degree programs. Ten RTI lecturers are already in China. Another 40 lecturers are expected to arrive in the next few months.

While experts from China would offer education for a whole new generation of Africa's railway engineers， Kenya and China have held talks over partnership exchanges between some of their respective universities.

Kenyatta University in Nairobi is recruiting students to go to China to upgrade their engineering skills.

Beijing Jiaotong University has recently launched a new program for Kenyan students, who had just graduated from high school.  They can come to China for railway engineering studies.

The program was first discussed at the China-Africa summit last year to modernize Kenya's rail network. It will provide education for 60 young students; 25 of them had arrived in China to begin their studies.

The students are funded by CRBC and will attend Jiaotong University for the next four years. They can go home for visits once a year.

Participants were selected through the Railway Talents cultivation program – a Kenyan initiative for finding new talents for maintaining and operating the Standard Gauge Railway, which will be under construction by 2018, according to Kenya's government contract with the CRBC.

Sun Ziyu, vice president of China Road & Bridge Corporation, said, "Chinese overseas enterprises are going through a transformation, from contractors to developers. So, integration and localization have become very important."

He added, "Training local people, equipping them with the necessary knowledge for overseas projects is one way out."

Chen Feng, Vice President of Jiatong University, said, "We hope the program will set an example for China-Africa railway engineering education, and to serve railway networks across Africa in the future."

During the goodwill visit of Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, to Kenya last month, many bilateral agreements were reinforced.

The top Chinese legislator visited Nairobi and Mombasa, met with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenya's Parliament Leaders Ekwee Ethuro and Justin Muturi. Zhang brought Chinese investors and encouraged them to take a balanced approach to friendships and interests in Africa. 

He expressed hopes that the China-Kenya partnership would be enhanced on the basis of a win-win strategy and mutual development. 

President Kenyatta conveyed his best wishes for Chinese President Xi and said Kenya cherishes its established friendship based on practical cooperation. His country is eager to learn from China's successful development and management experience.

On behalf of China, Zhang said bilateral cooperation has been fruitful due to mutual respect on both sides. He called Kenya "a role model of China-Africa cooperation."

Mr. Zhang had inspected major China-financed projects in Kenya, which were the Mombasa West Station – the eastern end of the Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway. China stands with Kenya in this time of need as a strong development partner.

While completing the mega railway project from Mombasa to Nairobi and Malaba, financed 90% by China's Exim Bank, Beijing is assisting Nairobi with capacity development: preparing Kenyan experts and young people to operate the SGR.

This demonstrates outstanding foresight on China's part in regard to their ongoing assistance to Kenya and fruitful partnerships across the rest of Africa.

Miroslav Atanasov, Ph.D., Renmin University of China
 

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

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