The $640 million rehabilitation of Sudan’s railway network has received Chinese support, and the country is moving through with the enormous project despite an economic crisis made worse by the coup carried out last year.
According to Transport Minister Hisham Abu-Zaid, authorities last week accepted freight-train carriages from China’s CRRC Ziyang Co. for a total of 50 million euros ($51.6 million). Sudan paid 30% of that sum in advance.
The new locomotives would increase Sudan’s monthly rail cargo capacity from 80,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes, according to the minister. He made no mention of the initiative’s upcoming steps or whether more Chinese support will be provided.
The North African nation announced plans in July last year to revamp a more than 2,000-kilometres (1,242 miles) rail network that had been shattered by decades of sanctions and mismanagement.
The African Development Bank, China State Construction Engineering Corp. and unspecified Gulf firms had all been said to show interest in assisting.