A patch of Red Sea Gobi was meant to lure factories away from the Suez Canal’s shadow. Two decades on it hosts nearly 200 firms – and a set of questions about who the industrialisation is really for.
Section
Property
Dukem’s Wager: What One Chinese Industrial Zone Taught Ethiopia About Factories
A private Chinese developer bet US$180 million on a field outside Addis Ababa in 2007. What grew there became a test of whether Africa can host the factory floor.
KSh 220 Billion: How Ruto’s Mega-Plan Aims to Turn Nairobi Slums into 169,000 Homes
President Ruto’s KSh 220bn plan promises to upgrade Nairobi’s slums with 169,000 affordable homes, markets and infrastructure.
Generate, Carry, Build: Reading Africa’s Power Sector as One Chain
Generation, transmission and industry are usually budgeted in separate columns. The output of each is the input of the next – which is why the weakest link sets the pace.
The Wires Between: Why Transmission Earns Its Own Story, Not a Footnote
New power plants get the headlines. The lines that carry their output get a clause at the end. That ordering hides where Africa’s electricity is actually lost.
Road Reserves: How KeNHA’s Seven-Day Ultimatum Cleared Thika’s Roadside Traders
KeNHA’s seven-day ultimatum cleared traders from the Thika Superhighway road reserve, exposing the tension between corridors and roadside trade.
Solar for the Off-Grid: 50,000 Households Against a Continental Dark Map
A US$14 million fund targets at least 50,000 families beyond the main grid. Set against more than 600 million Africans without power, the cooperation is precise, modest and worth measuring honestly.
De Aar’s Turbines: A Chinese Wind Flagship in South Africa’s Dry Heart
Longyuan’s De Aar wind farm, 244.5 MW across 163 turbines in the Northern Cape, became the first wind project financed, built and run by a Chinese firm in Africa.
The Lines Between: Why Africa’s Real Power Story Is the Wires, Not the Dams
China’s foreign ministry counts 66,000 km of transmission and distribution lines built across Africa since 2000 – the unglamorous wiring that decides whether a dam ever reaches a home.