The Renaissance and Politics of Railway Transport Development in Developing Countries: Case of Ethiopia

초록

The paper recommended vertically integrated railway business model to solve the swelling debt of the Ethiopian railway corporation. Vertically integrated railways have advantage of coordination between railway operations and infrastructure. This model is a good match where railways still has a critical social and economic impact and the public sector raises enough revenue to sustain it. In order to avoid the project finance transparency problems, the paper recommended that, the Ethiopian Railway management procurement, finance, contract negotiation, bid award needs to be transparent to fight against maladministration and corruption disguised as a positive political hype clogs in the wheel of railway development in Ethiopia. Sound decision making in investment finance and proper rail technology transfer policies is also a sure measure for curtailing the predicament. Ethiopia’s negotiation and investment engagement needs to be improved through upgrading the skills of its work force, bureaucratic/experts in training.