African leaders are rapidly pushing for rail inter-connectivity,not just among African capitals and cities but with Europe on the northern edge of the continent.
While the African Union through NEPAD is designing an integrated African high speed rail connectivity,King Mohammed of Morocco has opened high level discussions with the King Felippo of Spain on high speed connectivity between the two countries and continents.
Spain is widely reputed as the King of high speed rail technology in Europe.King Muhammad had also delivered the first high speed railway in the African continent.
Meanwhile,NEPAD had also acted following the signing of the High Speed Rail Detailed Scoping Study contract in December 2018 and the submission of the final Inception Report to AUDA-NEPAD.
According to a release from NEPAD, CPCS Consultants held a meeting with the AUDA-NEPAD team, to discuss the status of the high speed railway network consultancy project.
During the meeting, the key milestones and way forward were mapped out.
A key objective of the African Integrated High Speed Railway Network is the connectivity of Africa’s capital cities and megacities, including but not limited to, commercial hubs/economic zones and tourist destinations, among others.
This initiative is aimed at interconnecting African capitals with one another across the continent, using appropriate high speed rail technology and other complementary power, transboundary water, and information and communications technology broadband infrastructure and services.
The African Integrated High Speed Railway Network will complement the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa and enable the realisation of the African-wide frameworks such as: Boosting of Intra-African Trade; the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Accelerated Industrial Development for Africa, among others.
An initiative of the continent’s Agenda 2063, the African Integrated High Speed Railway Network will be developed with a phased approach, with the first phase (from 2013 to 2023) setting out an implementation plan got two regional high speed rail projects.
It is not only rail connectivity that the continent is
targeting. African Union through NEPAD had also inaugurated what it
called ‘the Champions of infrastructure in PICI”.This champions include:
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria for the Missing Link of the
Trans-Sahara Highway, as well as the Optic Fibre from Algeria via Niger
to Nigeria; President Macky Sall of Senegal for the Dakar-Ndjamena-
Djibouti Road/Rail;Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria for the
Nigeria– Algeria Gas Pipeline: Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline;President
Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo champions for the
Kinshasa-Brazzaville Bridge Road/Rail; President Paul Kagame of Rwanda
champions the Unblocking of Political Bottlenecks for ICT Broadband and
Fibre optic projects; President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt champions
the Establishment of a Navigational Line from Lake Victoria to the
Mediterranean Sea via the River Nile Project (VICMED);President Cyril
Ramaphosa of South Africa for the North- South Corridor Road/Rail
Project;President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya for the Lamu Port South Sudan
Ethiopia Transport Corridor Project (LAPSSET) and President Hage Geingob
of Namibia as champion for the International Logistics Infrastructure
Hub Projects
