China hands a “lifeline” to Ethiopian capital’s crumbling light rail
China famously built an electrified tram network in Addis Ababa, but forgot to include its maintenance in the opaque contract. Consequently, more than half of its fleet is out of action. This problem can be solved though, says China, with an additional 155 million yuan (US$23 million) worth spare parts deal. It’s money that Ethiopia does not have.
The South China Morning Post, the once-independent critical newspaper in Hong Kong reports about the light rail system:
- With more than half of its rolling stock out of action, Addis Ababa’s affordable transport system is in desperate need of spare parts
- Beijing has agreed to help but observers say the problems go deeper and are shared by other Chinese-financed railways in Africa.