Posted on September 4, 2017
By Zhou Xin, XINHUANET
China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is committed to continuous investment of more financial, technological and human resources into African projects, according to Lin Yichong, Chairperson of the board of directors at CHEC.
Speaking in a recent interview with Xinhua in Windhoek, Lin said that the company is always on the look-out for projects which offer a win-win situation for all.
As part of Sino-African cooperation, Lin said, CHEC has been involved in the port expansion projects in Africa and in Namibia specially, the Container terminal Project on Reclaimed Land in the Port of Walvis Bay and the National Oil Storage Project, which have created more than 2,000 jobs for Namibians.
Other projects across Africa, according to Lin, include the Lobito Port Project (Angola), Port Abidjan Project (Ivory Coast), Beira Port (Mozambique), Dar-Es Salam Port Project (Tanzania) and Kraba Port Project (Cameroon).
“In terms of Environmental/Green Development projects, CHEC is currently in the development phase of the construction of a Power Plant to be powered by waste in Angola,” he added.
Lin said CHEC is also involved in various Corporate Social Responsibility activities across all its operations on the African continent and continues to support efforts aimed at enhancing education; assisting vulnerable groups and societies as well as cultural exchange programs.
Meanwhile, he noted that there still remains room for cooperation between China and Africa, especially on the infrastructure development side, despite a decline in commodity prices, which affected many African countries in a economic slowdown.
“Many African countries are embarking on a process of industrialization and therefore looking at the diversification of their economies. However, this process is limited and hindered by the underdevelopment of infrastructure in their countries and it has therefore been realized that infrastructure development can be the engine that drives the process of industrialization and economic diversification,” he said.
Citing the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates, Lin said that there is a 2 percent slowdown in economic progress due to the underdeveloped nature of infrastructure in some countries.
“It argues, therefore that with efficient infrastructure development, the production sectors could see as much 40 percent growth,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said Africa has shown a desire to work with China on developing infrastructure and China has the capacity and willingness to assist Africa in achieving these goals.
“China has a long history of focusing on infrastructure development as a major contributor towards economic growth. Its 30-year-old “open door” policy focused on developing infrastructure and this is a lesson that many African countries find worthy of emulating,” he concluded.
Currently, CHEC is present in over 100 countries world-wide with projects worth 29 billion U.S. dollars, including the two projects in Namibia with a combined value of some 700 million U.S. dollars.
Source: XINHUANET
