We found that the Chinese entity had adopted a method called the “Early Entry Scheme” to resolve issues of delayed land compensation. Our finding runs counter to any grand visions of transformative infrastructure development, the lens through which Kenya’s rail project has been interpreted.
This compromised its own interests of economic productivity and its public image. It also adapted to local circumstances in the country and across East Africa, rather than only imposing its strategic priorities. Our interviews revealed that in Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation constantly shifted its strategies. This is because public engagement of Chinese contractors is usually strictly guarded due to the state ownership of these enterprises. Their perspectives have been lacking in both public and academic debates. Our research is unique because we directly engaged with the Chinese actors that built Kenya’s new railway. We also spoke to local government workers, private sector representatives, lawyers and scholars. We interviewed informants from the public sector in Kenya, including from Kenya Railways Corporation and Kenya Ports Authority. We interviewed managers and employees in construction and operational departments of China Road and Bridge Corporation, the main railway project contractor. Between May 2019 and September 2020, we conducted interviews during multiple visits to Chinese construction camps alongside the railway construction sites. We took a closer look at the project to see if these fears were well founded. There are also concerns whether Chinese contracts protect national interests. In 2022, according to the National Treasury, Kenya’s debt stood at KSh9.15 trillion (US$74.1 billion), equivalent to 67% of the country’s GDP. This is supposed to industrialise the country and advance socio-economic development.īut the sustainability of the railway project and its contribution to government debt has been widely debated. Flagship projectsĪlongside other large projects, such as the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor, the Standard Gauge Railway is central to Kenya’s national development programme Vision 2030. Simultaneously, this highlights that African governments have more power to influence their industrial development and the sustainability of large-scale projects than mainstream narratives acknowledge. Instead, they result from changing political and economic circumstances in China, and reflect both state and private Chinese interests.Īcknowledging these dynamics is important because it demonstrates how narratives about China’s involvement in mega-infrastructure development might overemphasise the power of the Chinese state. The study showed that the decisions of Chinese state-owned enterprises in Kenya do not necessarily present a grand Chinese strategy. We analysed how infrastructure development was realised on the ground and how Chinese construction companies shaped the process. We examined the specific ways in which Chinese state-owned enterprises are involved in the construction of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway. It is against this background that our study asked if Chinese actors indeed determined how mega-infrastructures are realised in African countries. Out of this amount, US$5.3 billion was advanced by the Exim Bank of China to finance the Standard Gauge Railway. In 2022, with a total debt of US$6.83 billion, China was Kenya’s biggest bilateral creditor. These include issues of increasing socio-economic inequalities between different population groups advanced by large-scale investments, local labour mistreatment by Chinese managers, accusations of neo-colonialism, and the long-term sustainability of loans issued by the Exim Bank of China for projects. China’s involvement in the construction of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway is a typical example of controversies brought by China-supported investments. Due to this, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has accused China of leaving countries “trapped in debt”. In 2020, it held over US$73 billion of Africa’s public debt and nearly US$9 billion of its private debt. China is Africa’s biggest bilateral lender. In particular, mega projects funded by China have resulted in public controversies about the relationship between external investments and public debt. The rapidly increasing Chinese presence across Africa has become a contentious issue both for Beijing and African governments. In 2021 alone, China accounted for nearly US$5 billion in foreign direct investment in African countries. China is an important economic player in Africa.
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