First cross-nation electrified railway: A road to common development

On the Roof of Africa, the Ethiopian plateau, a dragon made of steel crouches and extends in a spectacular way. This is the very first crossborder electrified railway in Africa that Chinese companies have built. It is also the trunk road of Eastern Africa, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway. Not far away, the narrow gauge railway, built by Western colonialists a century ago, has fallen into disrepair and been abandoned. The stark comparison of the two railways demonstrates the outgoing of the old era, which highlights exploitation, and the arrival of the new era, which heralds cooperation for win-win and common development.

In March 2013, President Xi Jinping paid his first visit to Africa and called for an honest and close policy toward Africa. He proposed a theory to "build a nest to attract the phoenix" to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and introduced China's successful practices in driving economic and social development by optimizing infrastructure. Desalegn agreed with the proposal.

In May 2014, Premier Li Keqiang chose Ethiopia as the first leg of his State visit to Africa. He promised that China is willing to help Africa to build railways and will realize the dream of African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to link the capitals of African countries with high-speed railways. Against this background, China, Ethiopia and Djibouti achieved a consensus to initiate the grand project to build the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, with the aim of improving transport conditions and facilitating the integration of regional economies.

It is the first electrified railway in Africa that runs across borders and uses Chinese standards. In the beginning, Western rail experts' on-site survey concluded that it was impossible to build a modern electrified rail link from Djibouti, which lies at around sea level, to the Ethiopian plateau, which sits at an average altitude of about 2,500 meters. However, Chinese engineers studied the geological conditions of the areas around the designed line step-by-step and overcame the technical problems one by one. They led Ethiopian workers in facing the difficulties and together took only 13 months to finish constructing the 751.7-km railway, starting in May 2014. They made a new miracle in rail construction. The dream for Ethiopian and Djiboutian people to work hand-in-hand for common development has found solid backing.

This reminds us of about 40 years ago when, right on this African land, more than 50,000 Chinese worked there with African counterparts to build the Tanzania-Zambia railway, which is described as a road to liberty and to freedom. It was a monument that has never diminished in China-Africa relations. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the Tanzania-Zambia railway is a reflection of the spirit of mutual respect and equality between China and Africa, the spirit of hard work, the spirit of internationalism highlighting selfless devotion. Today, these spirits find heritage and furtherance in the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway project. If we think the Tanzania-Zambia line was China's assistance to Africa in fighting against imperialism and ethnic separation, and in backing up Africa's progress to political independence, then the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway can be considered as a witness to China's hand in Africa's self-dependence, sustainable development and economic independence.

The new railway is a road of friendship and of cooperation. Builders from China, Ethiopia and Djibouti went through difficulties, including thin air on the plateau and a shortage of resources. They resolutely made the impossible possible and have won praise from the leaders of Ethiopia and Djibouti, who were satisfied with the railway's standards and progress. So far, the rail project has hired more than 30,000 local workers. Chinese engineers passed technology and skills to their African brothers with the aim of developing their capacity to build railways themselves one day. Ethiopia faced its biggest drought in 50 years in 2015. However, food and resources aid that the affected people needed desperately piled up in Djibouti due to the lack of road transport capacity. At that critical moment, Chinese companies decided to start the new rail project before the scheduled time and allocated diesel locomotives, which were used for construction work, to ship the aid. A total of 48 trains shipped over 90,000 metric tons of food timely to the affected areas and saved many lives.

The Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway is a road of development and a road of prosperity. Previously, transport between the two countries relied solely on a second-class road that has been poorly maintained. Goods took about a week to be shipped between the two African capitals. The high transport costs and low capacity became the bottleneck for the development of the two economies. With the completion of the railway, the time taken for passenger and freight transport has been cut to seven hours, with the logistics cost decreasing significantly and safety increasing substantially. Moreover, a number of industrial zones are being built by China and Ethiopia along the line to form an economic corridor. The parties are striving to connect the development of the railway and local industries, in order to be mutually beneficial. Economic integration and the development of Ethiopia and Djibouti will accelerate markedly.

With the completion of the construction work and the commencement of rail services, the operation of the railway is high on the political agenda. The consortium of Chinese companies defeated international bidders to win the operation rights for six years, thanks to the quality and experience they demonstrated in the construction project and the trust the local governments had in them. They will help the two countries to build their own railway systems and industry, and to foster talents specializing in rail construction and operation, not only for the two countries but also for Africa as a whole. After six years, the operation rights will be handed over to Ethiopia and Djibouti, and the history of Africa will then turn a new page.

The truth is, there is no precedent in Africa of building and operating a cross-border electrified railway. There will be difficulties along the way. However, an Ethiopian idiom says: "Spiders netting together can trap a lion." I believe diligent and intelligent Chinese and African people are fully capable of facing the challenges to work further on the road of cooperation and mutual benefit, and create a better tomorrow for China-Africa relations.

The author is Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia.

(China Daily 10/12/2016 page12)