Kenya rolling out it's national electricity program in half the time it took USA

[MOON Ki]

Indian teen builds world's 'lightest satellite'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-39931556

These sorts of things can happen with laptop-equipped kids.

Indeed. And why not.  Anything can happen.    But resources are scarce and taxpayer money should be allocated to where, on the basis of evidence, it will bring the greatest benefits to society ... "public policy" and "public expenditure" being for the "public"   The low (very-low) probability that some Hero will emerge from wanton use of limited resources does not  seem enough to warrant idiocy.  There are always "exceptions to the rule", but we do not, on such accounts, make judgements for the general populace ... the "exceptions" are exceptions precisely because they are exceptions.

There are "Indian websites" that have all sorts of stuff on all sorts of incredibly amazing Indians.  Or something.  Here's one that I like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

OK, past that: It does look like quite a feat.   

[RV Pundit]

Moonki you linear thinking is so simplistic it would be tragic if you were one of our policy wonks. Thankfully you're not. You think if we sort out food; then we can now go to sorting out B; then C; What you don't realize is when you dig deeper into food security; then you'll need a lot more than just planting food; you'll need roads, electricity, sgr and the works to do that. Sticking to electricity - universal access is one step ahead of sorting food security - because farmers can now improve productivity - by buying small machinery that improve farm efficiency & productivity - for example rather than your folks waiting for 21 days for one hen to hatch 5 chicks - they can now buy a hatchery - and hatch 500 eggs at one go - rather running expensive diesel posho mill - they can now operate electric mills to grind their food more efficiently and cheaper -making a lot more food available- the consumers can buy fridges and store food for longer - etc etc. Electricity will provide light for kids to read a few extra hours everyday - improving education standards - it can provide better paying juakali jobs (compared to farming) to rural folks - who can then afford to buy food from farmers. You can go on and on.

Development is complex. Once you appreciate that you'll stop dolling simple prescriptions and instead appreciate what is needed is a combination of therapies like you're treating a cancer that has metastasized.

Obviously you've to be obtuse not to instinctively realize you're proposing a simplistic solution to a complex & complicated problems.

[RV Pundit]

Here we go with SGR. SGR is no brainer - a winner. Obviously GOK have their own economists - even Uhuru himself studied some of it at IVY league - and don't have to listen to Japanase or Canadian or Chinese consultants every time. Last time we listened to WB consultant they told us to divest from social expenditure(SAP) and we ended in a mess. Now we are going back to having free education and all sort of welfare.

Last time we let IFC/WB fix the railway - they ended entangling us in 25 yr of mess. Talk about that - not SGR.

SGR can pay for itself in less than 10yrs. Already our cargo volume is approaching 30m metric tonnes or about 1.5m TEUS. If SGR transport 4,800 containers daily - @50k each - you're talking more than 100B - if you remove operational cost - the railway is enough to pay for itself.

We should be talking about investing in more and more SGRS. I mean a poor aid dependant country like Ethiopia are building 3,000kms of SGR  - and we are debating 450kms?

What if we borrow trillions of dollars and build universal infrastructure in a few years? Roads, rail, subways, power, water, housing, sewers, etc. Would we be bankrupted by the loans or would swift development follow? I believe the latter.

Entirely possible, but for one awkward: we lack the record (or natural resources to milked) for truly "world-class" loans.    And there is another thing: development of "attitude".   Elsewhere, someone---I think it was kichwa---noted that the average Kenyan's attitude towards "government property" has not changed since 1960: "it belongs to whomever, so I may help myself to it".   Apart from the financial "eating", people also stole physical parts of the railway infrastructure.   That is already happening with the SGR. 

When the EAC developed its railways Master Plan, their Japanese consultant had this to say: (a) by the time you have spent all this money on this new SGR, you will have trains that run slower than what we have on cargo lines that are much older than your lines, and (b) you can get actually better speeds and capacity by refurbishing your present lines and using better signalling.   (Silly man.  How can refurbishing and better signalling show real "development" and "success" in the 21st ... I brought this new thing to the village vs. I fixed the problem with the old one.)

Here's part of what I am trying to get at, beyond the "obvious" economic arguments of loan amounts and repayments and dot dot dot: why did the old line fail, and why do we believe that the new line will succeed without seemingly-impossible changes in our society?   Once the SGR starts to carry a non-trivial amount of goods, are we sure that the sort of fiddling that happens at "weigh bridges" won't simply be transferred?   Are we sure that money allocated for maintenance will go to maintenance, or will it be the usual, "it's still working, so let's just eat this money"?  Let's see how all that shiny stuff looks like a year from now.

There is also this idea that the Chinese lending the money for the SGR shows that they are really confident of its success; I'm not so sure about that.   First, Kenya is paying serious insurance for that loan.   Second, while Kung Fu was flexible on the repayment of the principal and interest, it insisted on the insurance premium being paid upfront.   Smart move: if the SGR collapses today, they still get paid.    There's a "rap song" that testifies to this sort of thinking:

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Oh a word on the "hard economics" and  "really cheap" fares and cargo rates.   I have seen Sh. 700 fares with a flag of "promotional rates" ... on the orders of H. E. Uhuru, down from an initial Sh. 900.    That has got many people really worked up.   Now, as a matter of simple economics, charges on such infrastructure have to be sufficient to (at least) maintain it.   So what are the basis of the current charges?   GoK has been very shy on that, but we know at least two things: (a) Kung Fu suggested much higher figures; (a) GoK's Canadian consultants recommended starting off with rates lower than for road and then jacking them up once the SGR had sufficient market-share.    So, if I were down there, I would moderate my excitement.

Here's another part what I am trying to get at: borrowing money and throwing it into infrastructure, arming toddlers with laptops, ... these are of limited worth in developing a country such as our.  We need to focus on serious fundamentals.  Have mobile phone, can do the MPESA stuff, and ride on spanking new SGR ...  but no food to eat (without the President leading the begging), constant diarrhoea from lack of clean water .... that's development?  Really?
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