Article: The risks are rising for Africa's private operators: concessioning of African railways has been underway for 15 years, but the expectations of politicians and the public are growing, which is increasing the risk for the private sector, as Joseph Jones and Jeff Murphy of CPCS Transcom, Canada, explain.(Africa)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

RAILWAY concessions can take a variety of forms, but typically in Africa the private sector is given the right to operate commercial services on the railway infrastructure, which remains in the hands of the state for a given term, usually for 20 to 25 years. Promoters of railway concessions in Africa, led by the World Bank, saw them as a means of reversing the catastrophic decline in the performance of state-owned railways since the 1970s, marked by precipitous falls in traffic, chronic under-investment, lack of maintenance, and burgeoning deficits.

In the 1990s, development partners, led by the World Bank, made future external ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!