(30 May 2017) Kenya's president on Tuesday opened the country's largest infrastructure project since independence, a Chinese-backed railway costing nearly 3.3 billion (b) US dollars that eventually will link a large part of East Africa to a major port on the Indian Ocean as China seeks to increase trade and influence.
The railway replaces part of the 660-mile (1,062-kilometre) line known as the "lunatic express," which was built by the British more than a century ago and linked Lake Victoria with the port city of Mombasa.
Kenya Railways says the newly opened stretch will reduce passengers' travel time from the capital, Nairobi, to Mombasa from more than ten hours to four.
The Chinese-funded, Chinese-constructed project has drawn criticism from some observers who call it overpriced; its cost represents about 5 percent of Kenya's GDP.
Activists have blocked the railway's second phase with a court order because of concerns about the impact on wildlife as it cuts across Nairobi National Park.
The newly opened railway is the first phase of a project to connect Kenya's landlocked neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan to Mombasa.
Construction of this 378-mile section was scheduled to be completed in December, but observers said President Uhuru Kenyatta's government hastened its launch to boost his re-election bid in August.
China is Africa's top trade partner and the world's second largest economy. Last year, a largely Chinese-financed and Chinese-built railway opened between landlocked Ethiopia, one of the continent's fastest-growing economies, and a major port on the Gulf of Aden in Djibouti.
And China has more planned for Africa as part of its "Belt and Road" project, its largest foreign initiative to date with multibillion-dollar investments in ports, railways and other facilities. Kenyatta was one of many heads of state attending China's forum on the project earlier this month.
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