Africa African market excites
For decades Africa has been at the fringes of railway development. However, growing international interest in its rich mineral deposits and the need to better serve swelling urban populations is transforming the continent into one of the world’s most dynamic railway markets, as Kevin Smith discovers from the findings of SCI Verkehr’s latest market study.
levels increasing on improved colonial infrastructure, it is deserving of its status as one of the world’s most dynamic railway markets. These are the conclusions of The African Rail Market, the latest study by German consultancy SCI Verkehr, which says the overall network is set to grow from 82,100 route-km in 2011 to 96,360 route-km in 2017. Many existing lines are also set to be rehabilitated which will result in the introduction of new and increases in existing services. SCI attributes much of this upcoming
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growth to demand for natural resources from China and India. Chinese imports from Africa reached $US 93bn alone in 2011, with an estimated 800 Chinese corporations primarily from the infrastructure, energy and banking sectors now doing business on the continent.
Africa’s current primary mining
resource is gold and the continent ranks first or second in the world in terms of reserves of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamonds, phosphate rock, platinum group metals, vermiculite, and zirconium. However, while several countries have initiated some railway projects, often with Chinese backing, in exchange for access to this mineral wealth, it is far from the scale already witnessed in Southeast Asia and South
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FRICA is experiencing a railway renaissance. With new lines slowly opening and traffic
America. Here local and international companies have established extensive mining operations which are complemented by mine to port infrastructure.
Africa’s existing railway network is a patchwork of systems which often connect capital cities, or industrial areas with a single port. Five different track gauges are in use across the continent and South Africa is the only country with a comprehensive network. Travelling long-distances by rail is almost impossible due to absence of some key links; at present there are no north-south links across the Sahara and only limited international connections between east and west. As a result freight shipments from some landlocked countries can take months. Political instability is the primary cause of this widespread defficiency. And despite most ethnic and ideological conflicts being subdued for
the past five to 10 years, the potential for unrest still exists in many areas, as the recent conflict in Mali highlighted.
Strong evidence
Yet SCI has compiled strong evidence that the appetite to invest is growing. It estimates that more than $US 50bn is required to build the 4000 route-km of rail infrastructure needed to unlock much of the continent’s commodity hotspots, and many African governments are now exploring funding mechanisms to initiate these projects, Nigeria being one prominent example (p22). SCI believes that Western Africa alone could invite investments of up to $US 25bn in infrastructure in the next decade to extract iron-ore. And as IRJ has reported, new heavy-haul railways have opened or are currently under construction in Sierra Leone, Guinea,
IRJ July 2013
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