China Harbour Engineering Co. has agreed to build a 68-kilometer (42-mile) railway in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.
Details
Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance Inc., a state-owned fund manager, and the Chinese company will source the funding to “design, finance, operate and maintain” the line, the Lagos state government said in a statement.
Digging Deeper
The rail line will connect Marina in Lagos’s central business district to the Lekki Free Zone on the outskirts of the city, where the Lagos Deep Sea Port and the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery are located.
When completed, the new route will add to an existing so-called Blue Line that was commissioned in August 2023, and a Red Line that began operating this year.
Why This Matters
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing this week.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping unveiled a raft of economic sweeteners for Africa at the summit, including providing $50 billion of financial support and $10 billion in investment by Chinese companies.
Zoom In
Lagos’s poor road and transport infrastructure has forced commuters to sit in traffic for hours. It’s estimated that commuters spend a total of 14.1 million hours a day in traffic every year, according to a 2021 report by Lagos-based Danne Institute for Research.
Source: Bloomberg
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