Algerian billionaire hopes to connect Africa with a railway

An Algerian billionaire hopes to connect the African continent with a railway covering north to south and east to west, Huffington Post reported on Friday. The project envisioned by Issad Rabrab is said to be worth about €15 billion.

Rabrab made the suggestion for his latest project during a meeting for businessmen in the Africa Forum held in Geneva. He insisted that now is the right time for Africa’s further development, although he acknowledged that there are many challenges facing such a railway, such as food security, infrastructure, electricity and water. Nevertheless, he believes that countries across the continent are ready to open up to each other, and a transcontinental railway will help to do just that.

America’s Forbes magazine listed Rabrab, the owner of “Algeria’s biggest privately-held conglomerate, Cevital”, as the seventh wealthiest man in Africa and estimated his wealth at $3.1 billion.

Several previous proposals made by the billionaire, who has projects all over the world, were undermined by the insecurity in African countries. A phosphate mine and food production company in Senegal, for example, did not go ahead for this reason.