The Remarkable TAZARA Railway China's Mammoth Aid Project for Africa

Описание: The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) is a showcase of China's foreign aid. This railway is truly remarkable. First of all, in terms of time, it's impressive because it's not a recent project. Construction began in 1970, more than 50 years ago, under the decision of Mao Zedong.

China started providing aid to Africa back then, not just recently. The TAZARA railway is an astounding 1,860 kilometers long. To put that into perspective, the distance from Beijing to Hong Kong is only about 2,100 kilometers. China sent a total of 50,000 engineering and technical personnel to work on the project. They traveled from Guangzhou and spent 14 days at sea before reaching Africa.

China also provided 1 million tons of raw materials and a 980 million yuan (at the time) interest-free loan. The railway required the construction of 320 bridges. Chinese workers completed this massive undertaking in just 6 years. It's fair to say that at the time, China devoted all its human, material, and financial resources to assist Africa in building this railway. After the railway was completed, the President of Tanzania stated that while other foreign countries built railways in Africa to plunder its wealth, China did so to help develop our national economy. In fact, China's aid to Africa was also motivated by the fact that African countries supported China's entry into the United Nations at a time when China's seat was still occupied by Taiwan (the Republic of China).