Ethiopian ambassador to China underscores the need for more investment
The Ethiopian government is seriously considering railway transportation as a relieving option due to its staggering progress import and export business transaction and increasing trend of urbanization. It plans to build a railway network of nearly 6,000 kilometers in the coming decade. Over the next three years, a Chinese State-owned company is to build the final section of a 339 km railway line linking Addis Ababa to the Red Sea state of Djibouti. A toll road along the same route has also got funding from China. This comes in the midst of Africa governments putting every effort to reduce the infrastructure gap of their respective countries. The World Bank estimates the continent as a whole has an annual infrastructure funding gap of 90 billion US dollars.
The lack of infrastructure is one of the Africa's most serious economic challenges, said Ethiopian Ambassador to China Seyoum Mesfin recently at a forum in Macao. "The development and interconnection of our infrastructure (power, telecom, roads and railways) will pull the region together towards market integration, sustainable growth and common development," he said.
Seyoum said China's investment in his country was transforming the economic fortunes. "China has been playing an irreplaceable role in Ethiopia's economic transformation. China has unparalleled contribution towards funding our infrastructure."
Other than railways and roads, Chinese companies are also making major investments in hydro power and setting up cellular and 3G networks.
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South Africa turns to China’s second largest oil and gas producer
SOUTH African national oil company PetroSA announced that it had chosen China’s Sinopec group to finalize the construction of its Coega refinery which was originally estimated to consume an investment of $9bn-$10bn and produce 400000 barrels a day.
The Mthombo project, in the industrial port of Coega near Port Elizabeth on South Africa's south coast, has been in the pipeline for several years but progress has stalled mainly because of a lack of funding. "The agreement defines the process by which PetroSA and Sinopec will shape the business case for Project Mthombo, the initiative to construct a world-class crude oil refinery at Port Elizabeth's Coega Industrial Development Zone," PetroSA said.
As part of its plan for truly felt presence in the continent, China has set aside $20bn to invest in South Africa's energy sector. Two years ago, acting PetroSA chairwoman Linda Makatini told Reuters the firm was in talks with Sinopec and was looking to sell an equity stake of up to 30% in the refinery, which will be among the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Agriculture becoming a priority of Chinese investment
China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) is considering partnerships with agriculture development banks in some African countries in order to expand its investments on the continent, CADFund's vice president Hu Zhirong said according to Allafrica.com.
Speaking to Xinhua News Agency, Hu said the fund's core plan is to expand Chinese farming investments in Africa. CADFund is working together with China Development Bank (CDB) - its major shareholder - on this investment plan. He added that the plan would also consider partnering with local agriculture companies and other financial institutions supporting agriculture development. "Both the CDB and China-Africa Development Fund are willing to develop agriculture projects in African countries," Hu said.
Established in 2007 with committed funding of 5 billion U.S. dollars, CADFund is a Chinese state funded organization promoting investment co-operation between China and Africa. It has been serving as development and cooperation arm of china and Africa. It is a key component of the Chinese government's forging of the Sino-African new strategic partnership. China has been providing aid to African banks since 1985, when the Chinese government started supporting the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).
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