Title: Understanding the Impact of China’s One Belt One Road Initiative on the Kenyan Transportation Industry: Navigating Uncertainty and Maximizing Opportunities
Main Research Question: How has Kenyan transportation industry and their infrastructure projects been impacted by increased economic integration with China through the One Belt One Road initiative, and what can be done to support their competitiveness and growth in this context?
Sub-Research Questions:
How have previous investments, policies, and decisions shaped the current state of the transportation system in Kenya?
What challenges does Kenya’s transportation sector face, in light of One Belt One Road investments, and what steps can be taken to address them?
What opportunities exist for Kenya’s transportation sector to take advantage of the One Belt One Road initiative and boost its competitiveness and growth?
Overview:
Kenya’s transportation infrastructure has been significantly impacted by China’s One Belt One Road initiative, which seeks to deepen economic ties between China and countries through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, including Kenya. As part of this effort, China has invested heavily in Kenya’s transport infrastructure by building a new standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi that replaces an older colonial-era line for faster movement of goods and people. Furthermore, they built new highways, ports, and airports within Kenya as part of this investment initiative.
However, these investments in Kenya’s transportation infrastructure come with their own set of challenges. In this paper, I will be analyzing this issue under the theoretical framework of path dependency. Path dependency refers to the idea that past investments and decisions shape future development in a system, making it difficult to deviate from its current trajectory. In terms of transport infrastructure specifically, this means previous investments, policies, and decisions have created the current state of things and made it hard to alter course.
To enhance Kenya’s transportation infrastructure and boost competitiveness in light of increasing economic integration with China, several steps can be taken. These include investing in local capacity building and training initiatives; developing tailored technologies and infrastructure solutions tailored to Kenya’s requirements; and creating partnerships between local and international actors.
Previous studies have investigated the impacts of China’s One Belt One Road initiative on various countries, including Kenya. These investigations generally focused on its economic, political, and social effects, with some attention paid to transportation infrastructure impacts. For example, certain studies examined Chinese investments in Kenya’s port infrastructure as well as debt sustainability challenges. In telling Kenya’s transportation infrastructure story through this prospectus, we will address path dependency issues alongside opportunities for growth and development within this context.
Methodology:
This research will use a mixed-methods approach that includes both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The qualitative component will involve a literature review examining the One Belt One Road initiative and its potential impact on transportation infrastructure, as well as previous studies on the impact of past foreign investments in Kenya’s transportation infrastructure. The quantitative component will involve the analysis of published data from the Kenyan government, such as government reports and data on transportation infrastructure investments in Kenya, to establish a broader perspective on the impact of the One Belt One Road initiative on the transportation infrastructure.
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