La Chine et le charbon

China Railway Group (601390) is in negotiations to build a railway connecting Colombia’s Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, reports nbd.com.cn. The proposed construction scheme includes 7.6 billion US dollars financed by China Development Bank.

The railway will be able to transport a maximum of 40 million tons of goods from Colombia’s economic hinterland to the Pacific Ocean per year, with a focus on coal delivery to China.
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos said that China has investigated the transportation and investment costs.

At present, a total of 27 nations worldwide are looking for China to build railways, while Chinese companies are increasingly inclined to build railways for transporting energy resources rather than supplying cheap labor abroad.

China imported more than 50 million tons of coal in 2009; however, the cost of imports for coastal cities is lower than that of transporting from North by rail or seas.

Colombia is world's fifth largest supplier of coal.

(lien)