Africa’s longest suspension bridge cut a six-hour journey to 90 minutes across Maputo Bay. It also left Mozambique repaying a US$785m loan at 4% – a multiplier of commerce, and of debt.
Section
Property
Roads First: How 100,000km of Chinese-Built Tarmac Reshaped Africa
China’s foreign ministry counts nearly 100,000km of highways built across Africa. The headline rail projects get the attention – but roads, quieter and more numerous, did the heavier lifting.
TAZARA Reborn: A US$1.4bn Bet on Reviving Africa’s Mao-Era Railway
China built TAZARA in the 1970s as a gift of solidarity, then watched it decay. A US$1.4bn deal now revives the line – this time as a 30-year commercial concession, not a present.
Gone Viral: How One Towering Wall Forced Kenya to Re-Police the 2.4-Metre Limit
A viral wall forced Kenya’s regulators to restate Nairobi’s 2.4-metre limit, citing blocked air and sunlight — a case study in enforcement by outrage.
Abuja Light Rail: A Capital’s Metro That Opened, Stalled, Then Reopened
Nigeria’s capital launched the country’s first urban rail in 2018. It then sat largely idle for years before service resumed in 2024.
Addis Ababa Transit: A Metro Built for the Industrial City It Awaited
The light rail’s southern line was routed deliberately toward factory districts. The transit arrived; the industrial boom it anticipated arrived more slowly.
Addis Ababa Light Rail: Africa’s First Metro and the Bill After the Ribbon
Sub-Saharan Africa’s first light rail opened in 2015 to genuine acclaim. Within a decade it needed rescuing from its own decline.
Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway: The Export Line That Trucks Keep Overtaking
A 753-kilometre electric railway was built to carry a landlocked nation’s trade to the sea. Eight years on, much of that trade still goes by road.
Beyond the freight line: Kenya’s commuter rail revival rides in the SGR’s shadow
The SGR was sold on cargo. The harder transport problem – moving Nairobi’s commuters – runs on a separate, older network now being rebuilt with different money toward 100,000 riders a day.