How Chinese firms have dominated African infrastructure
Western firms grumble more but compete less
WHEN IT COMES to building big things in Africa, China is unrivalled. Beijing-backed firms have redrawn the continent’s transport map. Thanks to China’s engineers and bankers you can hop on a train in Lagos to beat the traffic to Ibadan, drive across parts of eastern Congo in hours rather than days or fly into any one of dozens of recently spruced-up airports from Zanzibar to Zambia. Throw in everything else from skyscrapers and bridges to dams and three dozen-odd ports and it all adds up to rather a lot of mortar.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Chasing the dragon”
From the February 19th 2022 edition
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