Building in Nigeria...
I'm adopting a wait and see attitude on this one. GE seems to have given itself an out: they will only do it if the prospe ts for sales to Nigerian railways AND other African countries look good.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation spokesperson is quoted as saying:
"Although he said the corporation might not achieve the required perfection at the beginning, he insisted that there were competent engineers and technicians at the NRC that could handle the task.
He said many other countries where railway technology had advanced started that way, adding that the NRC team should be allowed to make faulty starts until it got it right."
Which doesn't sound all that encouraging to me. South Africa, i think, has a much longer and better established industrial tradition.
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"Building" is a matter of degree. GE has provided "kits" to a number of countries: just how complete the kits are and whether the builder has to supplement what's in the box with locally acquired parts, I suppose, may vary from case to case. GE has had longterm partnerships with some overseas builders" Goninans (now United Group) in Oz being the one I know best. Here GE has supplied engines and electrical stuff (so: maybe two-thirds of the locomotive by value), with the overseas builder doing the whole "locomotive mechanical portion": Australia has a highly developed mechanical engineering industry (they build their own automobiles, built airplaces as long ago as WW II...). The Chinese may now be at about the same stage as Goninans, though they make noises about wanting to build components as well.
