I happen to have lived in a few of the notes countries (China, Djibouti, Eritrea) so I'm somewhat aware of the challenges everyone faced building the railroad between Addis and Djibouti. While there was an existing railroad built by the French in the early 20th century, lacks of maintenance and funds kept it from being a viable means of freight and people transportation. When I was in Djibouti in the late 90s, the train only operated occasionally and was always packed for the harrowing day and half trip to Ethiopia's capital. In the video of the Chinese built train, it's quite remarkable to see the immense and gruesome work that went into it. Knowing how China operates, much of the work must have been done by thousands of Chinese laborers shipped from China's outer provinces while locals sit and watch it all being built. Temperatures in the low lands can hit 50 to 55 degrees Celsius during the day and not drop below 40 degrees at night. This is why westerners can no longer muster the capabilities to undertake such projects at reasonable costs. Local labor doesn't have the necessary skills while westerners don't have the necessary grits, unless they're provided by a slew of costly amenities. I might have recalled the following in another post so I apologize if this is a repeat, while in Eritrea, because they couldn't find a US contractor to do it, the US military had outsourced to the Chinese (only bidder) the building of a secret camp in the middle of nowhere. The Chinese construction company sent Chinese laborers and materials to a God forgotten mountainous desert, far from any roads, by feet and mules. The US soldiers I had spoken with while on break in Asmara, capital of Eritrea, spoke to me of the incredibly harsh conditions these laborers worked in. All had only respect for their tenacity and courage.
China is pouring billions into countries few western nations care to invest in. That is commendable and I wish them great success where we, during colonial times and through many assistance campaigns and investment projects since, have barely moved the needle forward. I expect they will discover that it's not enough to build up, that nation building is about nation first. A population must identify with, and make the hard work and sacrifices necessary to build that nation or else development projects quickly become burdens or left to waste away. I've spoken on several occasions with Chinese who were involved in African development projects for several years. To my surprise, some learned local dialects and the national language (French or English for the most part) to communicate with locals, which showed commitment. But their assessment was almost always that no one wanted to work, even basic labor. They'd agree to hire X number of locals but ended up bringing in Chinese workers to do labor while hired locals watched.