British colonial heritage and modern railway development in Africa
by Gabor Gyurko,
'Few countries
have ever industrialised […] in which entrepreneurs have been unable to corrupt
the state, exploiting taxpayers and consumers far beyond the limits set by
proper tolerance […]’
(Clive Dewey on
imperial Britain’s ‘new industrial policy’)
Beyond
military power and economic might, roads have shaped the outreach of empires
throughout human history. Royal highways helped cement the rule of the Achaemenid dynasty over the Persian
Empire.
Roman roads aided legions of the Eternal City in their conquest of the known world.
An epoch of trail network development
steered the rise of Inca rule in Latin America.
It
was Victorian Britain to pick up the mantle and recommence expanding the global
transport infrastructure, with a more modern tool that time – railways. However,
as regions and manufacturing production were part of a hierarchy, networks were
constructed asymmetrically as well. Above all else, they were organized such
that overseas resources would be supplied at the lowest cost for domestic
British manufacturing. In Australia, they link the ‘wool-towns’ with the port
of Sidney, the Northwestern coalmines with Newcastle harbor since the 1830s. They
ship cotton across the British Raj of the Indian subcontinent from the mid-19th
century.
With
this single purpose in mind, a plethora of private enterprises and joint
ventures entered the railway construction industry to capture profits from
transportation fees. In this respect, trunk lines were simply part of
individual supply chains, not only not serving integration, but essentially blocking
it through limiting differentiated local economic development. Spread out
ownership also resulted in major technical discrepancies, which hindered
network unifications once lines began overlapping. For instance, in both
Australia and India three gauges were in use, none of which matched the then-evolving
European standard. Furthermore, with the demise of the colonial world and
production processes under realignment, newly independent states were left with
assets abandoned by their owners, and the daunting task of reform.
Although
a decline in the cost of trade is the most explicit consequence of transport expansion, a well-integrated
network also serves as a tool of convergence, both in prices and in incomes. This makes it crucial for a country to have infrastructure in place that
services domestic needs. Illustrative studies are abundant for the British Raj,
with mixed results in case of prices and marginal to none for incomes. Scholars
note that this failure was exacerbated in times of famine, when price
inflations and trade from surplus regions helped spread hunger, instead of relieving
it.
‘Colonial rule
in Africa was intended to be cheap, viz. for taxpayers in Europe.’
(Gareth Austin
on the motivation of colonial powers)
While
political and social forces would organize over time across most major British
domains, inducing more inclusive developments and improving the character of
the national infrastructure greatly, such pressures were lacking in Africa at large.
The geographical partition of the continent caused a deep political divide across neighboring countries.
Power-hungry
European sovereigns – especially Britain, France and Germany – utilized colonial transport networks as
means of military defense against each other, and as instruments of dominance
and exploitation over the African territories. Political will dictated the
choice of railway over paved road construction as well, as freight was less
costly and more secure via trunk lines. Furthermore, given the low density of population
and economic activity of the continent and long distances between major centers,
there was little room left for regional integration.
Past
50 years of independence there is little change in the transport structure of
newly-formed states. Road density is still extremely low even in comparison with other developing countries. The railroad network is in
similarly dire straits, with very limited new construction since the 1950s
across the Sub-Saharan region. Expansions have been limited to the Southern
countries, while other lines were either scrapped or abandoned over the years
as they are either too dangerous or no longer viable technologically. Furthermore,
as linkages between colonial conglomerates and their overseas affiliates began
to realign, many lines have lost their relevance altogether.
The
rule of thumb in infrastructural investments is that it creates spillovers and
hence increases overall efficiency even if it is itself loss-making via the
decline in transportation costs for both freight and passengers. However,
calculations suggest that as markets are unsaturated, construction and
maintenance of trunk lines is self-financing – yet, concessions still number in
single digits. In a globalizing economy, national borders and interest become
secondary to integration and the composite performance of regions. In the lack
of price and income equalization, the produce of especially landlocked and
‘monocultural’ countries remains uncompetitive, while their populations suffer
greatly from their inability to access global markets. Proposed developments clearly seek to further the
international unification process that is increasingly prevalent in
contemporary African politics.
Perhaps, infrastructural expansion can lead to
the rise of an economically and politically more stable, and socially more
equitable Africa for the 21st century.
-------------------------------------------
Literature
review:
Quote
by Clive Dewey is from this article.
http://www.cscsarchive.org/dataarchive/textfiles/textfile.2008-09-14.3329631171/file
Quote
by Gareth Austin is from this article.
http://poldev.revues.org/78#tocfrom1n5
An
extensive review of Australian colonial railways is available via this website.
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/ahc/publications/commission/books/linking-a-nation/chapter-4.html
A
brief summary of Indian railway development is available here, with specific analysis of famines in this article.
http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~dbogart/indraileconachieve.pdf
http://www.celdf.org/downloads/NATURE%20and%20EMPIRE%20-%20LAXMAN%20SATYA%20ARTICLE.pdf
A
good summary of colonial heritage in African railroads is presented here, with policy recommendations found
here, and in extensive detail here.
http://www.trforum.org/forum/downloads/2007_5A_AfricaTrans_paper.pdf
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2009/Resources/4231006-1225840759068/WDR09_18_GIM04web.pdf
http://www.infrastructureafrica.org/system/files/BP17%20Railways_maintxt_3.pdf
Illustrative
brief on road networks in Africa is available here.
http://www.eu-africa-infrastructure-tf.net/attachments/library/aicd-background-paper-14-roads-sect-summary-en.pdf
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