STORY: China shares sustainable urban development experience with Africa
DATELINE: June 10, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:17
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of electric buses used as shuttles at the UN-Habitat assembly
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MOSES NDERITU, Chief Revenue Officer, BasiGo
3. various of driver and passengers
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): BETTY, Passenger
5. various of China-built, electric-powered light rail project in Nigeria
6. various of Africa
7. various of Chinese-built hydropower plant in Zambia
8. various of green park in Ethiopia
9. Maimunah Mohd Sharif at the UN-Habitat assembly
10. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MAIMUNAH MOHD SHARIF, Executive director, United Nations Human Settlements Program

STORYLINE:

These shuttle buses traveling back and forth during the second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi were probably eye-catching.

The electric buses were provided by Kenya's startup BasiGo.

It assembles buses locally by using parts designed by Chinese EV maker BYD.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MOSES NDERITU, Chief Revenue Officer, BasiGo
"We have been running buses in Nairobi for the last 15 months. The buses came from BYD in China.
They are very open in giving you what is the latest technology."

Passengers are impressed by the new green buses.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): BETTY, Passenger
"This is very fancy. It's comfortable. It's chill. The environment is so serene."

Apart from EVs, China has been sharing its experience in sustainable urban development with Africa and other developing regions.

In January, the first phase of a China-built, electric-powered light rail project in Nigeria's port city of Lagos was officially open for service.

As a symbolic project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Blue Line project is the first electrified railroad and cross-sea light rail project in West Africa.

Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari described the project as "historic."

In Kenya, the Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway has helped reduce carbon emissions by cutting travel time between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in southwest Nairobi and the bustling Westlands district from two hours during peak time to only about 20 minutes.

In Zambia, a Chinese-built hydropower plant was commissioned in March, following the switching on of the plant's fifth generator.

In Ethiopia, a Chinese company transformed a wasteland into a green park in just 11 months that now hosts one of the most functional and largest urban comprehensive plazas in Africa.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, said China has been a pace-setter in urban regeneration in the recent past, inspiring the Global South, where cities are growing rapidly, to follow suit.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MAIMUNAH MOHD SHARIF, Executive director, United Nations Human Settlements Program
"So we count on China as a strong ally, a strong friend to us, and collaborate in promoting the multilateralism and also hoping to advocate the implementation of the new urban agenda."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)