China’s ‘Ghost Railway’ Pulls up Short of Promises in East Africa

Beijing’s promise to boost trade by constructing rail link between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda remains unfulfilled.

One of Kenya's newly acquired standard gauge rail locomotive, carrying the Kenyan president pulls into Voi railway station on May 31, 2017 in Voi, during an inaugural ride on Kenya's new standard gauge railway from the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi. Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday inaugurated a Chinese-built railway, the country's biggest infrastructure project since independence that is aimed at cementing its role as the gateway to East Africa. Cheering crowds waved at the passenger train as it sped past on its maiden journey from the port city of Mombasa / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images

In 2014, when the China Road and Bridge Corp. began building the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya, Beijing said the project would be one of its greatest achievements under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had launched the BRI just a year before, promising massive infrastructure builds that would revitalize stagnant economies across the world, including in Africa.