Sudan secured Chinese backing to begin a $640 million restoration of its railway network, pressing ahead with the ambitious project despite an economic crisis worsened by last year’s coup.
Authorities this week took receipt of freight-train carriages from China’s CRRC Ziyang Co. worth 50 million euros ($51.6 million), with Sudan paying 30% of that amount upfront, Transport Minister Hisham Abu-Zaid told reporters Wednesday.
The new equipment will allow Sudan to transport 350,000 tons of cargo per month by rail, up from 80,000 tons, the minister said. He didn’t give details on the next steps in the initiative or say if more Chinese assistance was coming.
The North African nation announced plans in July last year to revamp a more than 2,000-kilometres (1,242 miles) rail network that had been shattered by decades of sanctions and mismanagement.
The African Development Bank, China State Construction Engineering Corp. and unspecified Gulf firms had all been said to show interest in assisting.
Read also; Sudan Launches New Direct Maritime Shipping Route to China.
