Sudan, China to Build $630 mln Mauritania Railway

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article23140

Sudan's Danfodio Holding and China's Transtech Engineering have recently signed an agreement with private Mauritania investors to build a railway in Mauritania that would link its capital Nouakchott to Bofal, where phosphate deposits are located. The purpose of the building of the railway was announced in a matter-of-factly way as the exploitation of resources. The article quotes Mauritanian Transport Minister saying:

"This line will allow the exploitation of the Bofal deposits and open up isolated areas of Mauritania with considerable animal, agricultural and mineral resources."

I am skeptical about the benefits that a railway owned by TNCs would bring to the PEOPLE of Mauritania. Is it really going to help the development of the country? I doubt it. As the Transport Minister said (and how could he do this to his country?), the purpose of the railway is to extract resources out, most of which will most likely go to the TNCs instead of its people. If the agreement were signed by the governments of Sudan and China, there might still be a chance that they signed it with a true intention of helping Mauritania. But it was signed by corporations, whose sole purpose is to make more and more profits, and who will not invest money in anything that will not bring them more profits. I wonder how the PEOPLE of Mauritania feel about their fate being decided by these TNCs?