China Kenya infrastructure cooperation has achieved fruitful results

Jointly building the "the Belt and Road" initiative connects history, reality and future.

More than 600 years ago, Chinese Ming Dynasty navigator Zheng He made seven voyages to the West and visited Kenya multiple times, promoting commercial exchanges along the Maritime Silk Road and leaving behind timeless stories. Today, China and Kenya jointly build the "the Belt and Road" in high quality, work together to create a "national landmark", a "cooperation monument" and a "livelihood project", and continue to write moving chapters to promote common development and improve people's well-being.

Nairobi Expressway——

"Cooperation with China will give our country more 'firsts'."

As night falls, the Nairobi Global Trade Center located in the core business district of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is brightly lit. This project is invested and operated by AVIC International, with a tallest building of 184 meters, which is a landmark building in Nairobi. Standing at the highest point of the trade center, a modern transportation artery with bright lights runs through the entire city in sight. This transportation artery is the Nairobi Expressway, known as the "Nairobi Traffic Artery" by local media.

The Nairobi Expressway has a local name called Moja, which is composed of the first two letters of the names of the starting and ending stations of the expressway. In Swahili, it means "one". "This is Kenya's first toll road project, as well as China's first government and social capital cooperation project in Kenya. As the name suggests, cooperation with China will give our country more 'firsts'," said Jenny Angiyu, the PR manager of the expressway project

China Road and Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CRBC") has invested in the development, construction and operation of the Nairobi Rapid Route, with a total length of 27.1 kilometers. It is a fast passage connecting the downtown area of Nairobi with Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, passing through important landmarks such as Nairobi's core business district, National Museum, National Stadium, and Parliament Building, reducing the travel time from the downtown area to the airport from 2 hours to 20 minutes. As of the end of September 2023, the cumulative number of vehicles passing through expressways has exceeded 22 million.

Pauline lives in the satellite city of Milorongo, southeast of Nairobi. On a weekday morning, she needs to send her two children to school and then rush to the city center to work. "Previously, my children and I had to wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and we had to leave at the latest at 5 o'clock, otherwise we would all be late. Now that it only takes half an hour to get to the city center, we no longer have to work so hard to wake up early."

Kenya's Deputy Minister of Transport, Mbuga, stated that while the expressway has significantly alleviated traffic congestion in Nairobi, reduced logistics costs, and promoted economic development, it has also attracted more international investment to Kenya, helping it become an economic, transportation, and tourism hub in East Africa.

Morgan Mukanda, who runs a tourism company in Nairobi, deeply understands this. He told reporters that tourists from various countries who come to Nairobi are highly praised for the expressway. Whether it's from the airport to hotels, or from the city to the grasslands to see wildlife, not getting stuck in traffic can save a lot of time and improve the travel experience.

Entering the monitoring center of Nairobi Expressway, the large screen displays real-time footage of high-definition road network cameras along the entire 54 routes. Local duty personnel use automatic monitoring systems to monitor congestion, retrograde traffic, pedestrian crossings, and other situations in real time. According to the person in charge of China Road and Bridge, the project employed over 6000 local employees during the construction period, benefiting 200 local subcontractors and hundreds of building material suppliers. At present, the project operation employs over 500 local employees, accounting for about 95% of the total number of employees. "The Nairobi Expressway not only introduces a modern road traffic operation and management system to Kenya, but also promotes local residents' employment."

Brian Masengari, 25 years old, comes from a impoverished village in the town of Bengma, over 400 kilometers west of Nairobi. Before joining the Nairobi Expressway project, he had only visited Nairobi once. Since joining, he has grown from an ordinary toll collector to the first Kenyan toll station manager on the expressway, and now he has settled down in Nairobi. "My daily work and project training have comprehensively improved my professional skills and management abilities. I want to work hard with my Chinese colleagues, constantly pursuing high standards and quality," said Masengari.

Mombasa Port New Oil Terminal——

"We not only need to build an international dock well, but also protect the blue creatures here."

After taking a train from Nairobi and traveling for over 5 hours along the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built by a Chinese enterprise, the reporter arrived at the southeastern coastal city of Kenya, Mombasa, which has the largest port in East Africa.

The original oil terminal at Mombasa Port handled over 90% of petroleum products shipped to Kenya and surrounding countries, playing an important role in trade between East African countries and the world. "For many years, the old oil terminal has been unable to meet Kenya's needs. When Kenya sought cooperation in development, China was ready to work hand in hand with Kenya. This is a true friend." In January 2022, the new oil terminal in Mombasa, built by China Communications Construction Group Co., Ltd., was completed. Kenyan President Kenyatta said at the completion ceremony.

Starting from February 2019 and officially delivering to use in August 2022, cooperation with Chinese enterprises has enabled Kenya to have a modern oil and gas loading and unloading terminal with international leading standards, bringing new vitality to the Port of Mombasa.

Hudson Marami, Operations Manager of Kenya Oil Pipeline Company, said that the new oil terminal can unload an oil tanker within 24 hours, and the average oil flow rate per berth is 3 to 4 times that of the old terminal. "This greatly enhances the oil processing capacity of Mombasa Port and drives the development of local upstream and downstream enterprises, injecting new impetus into the rapid development of Kenya and even East Africa."

At dusk, the orange oil delivery arms on the new oil terminal of Mombasa Port are neatly arranged, merging with the sea surface under the sunset. More than 2000 marine creatures, including dolphins and humpback whales, live in the waters near the port of Mombasa. The new oil terminal has established environmental protection goals during the construction planning stage, ensuring the progress and quality of the project while maximizing the protection of surrounding marine life and ecological environment.

The project engineering team has set up 8 monitoring stations in the nearby sea area to monitor marine water quality in real-time every day; Four observation stations have been set up to monitor the state of marine life; Hire a qualified local marine monitoring team to participate in project construction activity monitoring, and upload monitoring data to the Kenya Environmental Protection Agency on a weekly basis to provide support for the implementation of marine environmental protection measures. "We not only need to build an international port well, but also protect the blue creatures here," said project manager Lin Zhiping.

Swak Dam——

"Many people have gained income and improved their lives due to project construction."

At the confluence of the Ashi River and the Swak River in Kenya, the Swak Dam, constructed by China Energy Construction Gezhouba Group, is rising in the canyon. When the reporter arrived at the construction site of the dam, it was already night, and the scattered stars in the sky complemented the street lights on the dam. Loading and unloading trucks, excavators, and road rollers shuttle back and forth, and the dam was in full swing.

The Swak Dam belongs to the first phase of the Swak Multipurpose Water Conservancy Development Project. The Swak Multipurpose Water Conservancy Development Project is currently the largest comprehensive water conservancy hub project under construction in Kenya, integrating dams, water supply, irrigation, and power generation. After completion, it will effectively promote the achievement of Kenya's "2030 Vision Plan" and "Four Development Goals", bringing huge economic benefits to water supply, power supply, and agricultural irrigation in southeastern Kenya.

The area where the dam is located has a tropical grassland climate, with two rainy seasons in a year, making it a semi-arid region as a whole. During the rainy season, the Axi River has abundant water resources, but precious water resources have not been effectively utilized. Local people have long used water tanks to collect rainwater or purchased water from mobile water trucks operated by water companies, which is time-consuming, laborious, and expensive.

Li Shan, the project manager of the Swak Dam, told reporters that after the completion of the dam, the water storage capacity can reach 688 million cubic meters, which will effectively alleviate the water shortage during the dry season, help local economic and social development, and benefit more than one million people in the region.

Since the start of construction in 2018, the Swak Dam has provided approximately 2000 job opportunities for the local area, with an employee localization rate of over 90%. 30 year old Elizabeth Mvora is a geological engineer on the Swak Dam project, responsible for on-site surveying, geotechnical investigation, and other work. She has been working on the dam project for over 4 years.

When the reporter saw Mvora, she had just returned to the office from the dam construction site. After graduating from Southeast University in Kenya in 2017, Mwowa interned at the Environment and Natural Resources Department of the Kitui County Government. "During my internship, I heard about the recruitment of geological engineers for the Swak Dam project and applied immediately," Mvora said. "I have learned a lot of knowledge and experience here that is not available in books. I have seen changes in the surrounding community, and many people have gained income and improved their lives due to project construction."