Libyan Railroads

On the big projects there is still hardly any movement to be seen. No wonder so far, as the priorities of the government lie in the restoration of internal security, collecting weapons and preparing the elections.
Some of the old projects were of such a huge dimension that the government decided to analyze them and give a recommendation if and how to proceed. One of these projects is the railway system: A long story and a complicated project:Already in the 80ies and 90ies the government started to build a railway along the coastline, remainders of which can still be senn when travelling overland from Tripoli to Tunisia: The rails were never put in place, but the elevated sandhills are still there. In 2008 a new effort was undertaken, and the Libyan government awarded the contract for building the new railway system to the Chinese Railways and the Russian Railways. The latter were supposed to build the part from Sirte towards the Egyptian border, the Chinese were reponsible for the Sirte - Ras Ajdir part and the line going south towards Sebha.
From the beginning, the project only got moving very slowly, whereas the Russian part was much more delayed than the Chinese. One problem was of course also the coordination between the two general contractors, especially when it came to sub-suppliers. The railroad authority tried to force the two contractors to buy supplies from the same companies, which, because of individual interests was not an easy task, and failed often.
The two contracts also included different scopes f activities. The Chinese contract was much wider and included almost everything (or at least they could decide on their own), whereas the Russians had to revert often back to the Railroad Authority to get authorisations for the different components.
The main camp of the Russians was in Ras Lanuf and had been looted terribly. So far there are negotiations, or I should better call them "talks", but I don´t expect any decision on that project to be taken before the elections in June. Maybe even only after the main elections in 2012.