2016年CRI Kenya's economy expects major boost from Chinese-built railway

 

Civil engineering work is set to be completed in a few weeks on the first Standard Gauge¹ Railway connecting the Kenyan capital Nairobi and East Africa's largest port, Mombasa.

Once the railway is fully² operational by January 2018, the travel time between the two cities will be cut from more than ten hours down to four. 

The 472-kilometer railway is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation. The Export-Import Bank of China is financing 90% of the 3.8-billion-dollar cost.

Solomon Ouna, an engineer for the railway, says the bank's financing plan stood out from a number of competitors.

"There are many financing models that were considered for the project but it's only when we got onto Exim Bank of China that we found it sustainable because they were able to give us sufficient funds to do a whole commercially viable³ section."

Construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa rail began back in late 2013. It is part of a larger Standard Gauge Railway Project connecting Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. Analysts⁴ are suggesting the rail links will open up tremendous business opportunities not just for Kenya but also its neighboring countries, as inland Africa will now be linked to Mombasa's ports. Those ports service both Europe and the Middle East.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta says he considers the railway a vital part of his plans to grow Kenya's economy.

Atanas Maina, managing director of Kenya Railways, says the local economy can expect many beneficial ripple⁵ effects from the rail link.

"You have investors⁶ coming on board to position themselves here, to invest here because the cost of production and the cost of transport and logistics has gone lower, they will come and relocate their industries here, they will create employment, their final products are produced at a lower cost, those products are consumed by locals."

The first trains to service the railway are due to arrive in January, with test runs expected to start by June. Currently, over 400 people are being trained to service the railway in both Kenya and China.

Project engineer Solomon Ouna says the training being offered is high-quality.

"We want a railway to be operated by well trained and qualified⁷ locals so we are taking all the steps to make sure that the locals are trained, we are taking all steps to ensure that they have the skills that are required, driving skills, maintenance, communication, rolling stock, skills for the operation of the trains."

Construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa line has already created 30,000 jobs for Kenyans. The existing rail link between Nairobi and Mombasa was built over 100 years ago.

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。