The port of Mombasa’s position on the East African seaboard as Africa’s gateway to Asia will be severely challenged in the next 10 years as the Chinese set out to complete an ambitious trans-continental railway project, experts say.

Plans are under way that will see the Chinese government construct a railway cutting across Sub-Saharan Africa from Angola in Africa’s western seaboard to Tanzania on the eastern coast of the continent.

Martyn Davies, an expert on China and Africa relations at Stellenbosch University, says that with the Chinese economy’s growth firmly hinged on Africa’s natural resources, the need to easily move commodities from the continent will spawn massive infrastructure initiatives by the Chinese.

Lost relevance

“The railway line which will run from Luanda to Dar-es-Salaam will reduce the relevance of Durban and Mombasa as key landing ports for traders from the east,” says Dr Davies, adding that China was already constructing

In 2001, China pledged in Dar-es- Salaam to finance the development of the 1,860 kilometre-long Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TZR) built by the Chinese government in an aid grant in 1970s.

The railway links the Indian Ocean port city of Dar-es-Salaam and its terminal of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, which will then be extended, passing through the southern part of DR Congo and ending up in Angola.

But with China’s increasing interests in oil and precious minerals in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, the construction of this railway line is meant to ease the extraction and transportation to China.

“Africa is the guarantor of China’s growth and this means that its commodity supply chains have to be secured,” says Dr. Davies.

From Zambia, the main export product is copper, which is being transported from the copper belt to Dar-es Salaam and Durban in South Africa. Oil and other precious minerals extracted from Angola and DRC form the key interests for the Chinese

With plans under way to rehabilitate the port of Dar-es- Salaam, the railway will soon place the Tanzanian port city as the main hub on the East African seaboard.

While the importance of Mombasa as East Africa’s main regional port is still not in doubt— 15 million tonnes of cargo was moved last year signifying a 22 per cent increase from 2006— the rise of Dar-es-Salaam could slice a significant chunk off Mombasa’s share.

The railway line is expected to reduce cargo transportation time from Angola and the Great Lakes region to the Far East. Currently, cargo from the country has to round the southern cape of Africa before heading out to China.

In 2002, Angola’s post-war reconstruction received a boost with a $3 billion oil-backed credit line from China to rebuild the war-torn country’s shattered infrastructure.

In addition, the China International Fund Ltd based in Hong Kong is undertaking a $300 million rehabilitation of the Benguela railway line, which was destroyed during the civil war.

When restored, the railway line will link Benguela to Luau on the border with DRC and to Lobito, south of the capital, making possible a future extension to Zambia via Lumumbashi and direct transport from the Zambian copper mines to Angolan or Dar-es- Salaam ports.

For a continent with poor infrastructure and limited intra-regional trade, such investments constitute a significant development and have the potential to boost trade among African countries.