Africa has now become well-established as the single most important overseas market for the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), China's largest infrastructure development business. In 2008, almost half of the company's $9.6 billion overseas revenue came from projects in Africa.

As of May this year, CCCC had secured 28 projects with a number of African nations, each worth more than $100 million apiece. With two of the deals - one in Angola and one in Libya - worth an estimated $1 billion each, it is small wonder that this is the third year that Africa has topped the list of CCCC's overseas markets.

Speaking of the company's success in Africa, Wang Xiaoguang, general manager of CCCC's overseas business department, says: "CCCC's business in Africa has grown by around 33 percent per annum in recent years. Fortunately, the plans already in place for infrastructure development in many African countries have remained unaffected by the current global financial downturn with much of the funding already in place through Chinese governmental loans."

As part of its commitment to developing its African business base, CCCC is currently drawing up plans to train 30,000 local staff into skilled workers to work on a number of construction projects, primarily in Angola and Libya.

At the beginning of the year, CCCC won a contract from the Libyan government to deliver 5,000 apartment homes. The total value of the project, including foundation construction, is said to be in the region of $1.05 billion.

In Angola, CCCC's China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd won a $1.13 billion bid for construction and renovation work at the Angolan port of Lobito, once one of the country's busiest import and export zones.

Commenting on the two projects, Wang said: "Most of our infrastructure construction projects are initiated by invitations from the relevant local governments and form part of that country's commitment to rapid development and poverty alleviation."

Apart from its projects in Angola and Libya, CCCC also has construction initiatives in a substantial number of other developing African countries, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ethiopia and Algeria.

Last April, the CCCC First Highway Engineering Co Ltd won its bid for a major road renovation project in Cameroon, a central African country with a population of nearly 18 million. The contract is worth approximately $93.7 million over a three-year period and will see CCCC undertake the renovation of a 50 km strip of asphalt pavement.

The company has also signed two contracts with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These $37.47 million deals will see CCCC working on both the 322 km long Kamituga-Kasongo highway and the 109 km long Boma-Moanda Road.

As the company's commitment to its African infrastructure development projects has grown, CCCC has invested heavily in the processing plants needed to supply raw materials. In 2005 it opened a $200 million cement factory with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons in Congo.

The close links between CCCC and many African nations has now seen the construction company emerge as a major employer in the continent. Wang said: "We have now trained about 100,000 local people and created a highly-skilled African workforce. Many of them seem to enjoy working for the CCCC, partly, I think, because we make sure that all of our local staff are always paid on time.

"Even if the company faced tough times or financial difficulties, we would prefer to borrow money rather than have to delay paying the salaries of local workers."

The China Road and Bridge Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCCC, has also undertaken a number of substantial African projects, largely as part of a major road-building initiative in Kenya.

Aside from its commercial interests in Africa, CCCC and its subsidiaries have played a considerable role in supporting charitable causes in a number of developing nations. Last year the company donated $15,500 to the Nairobi Marui Primary School in Kenya to build two new classrooms.

At a ceremony marking the handover of the donation, Zhang Ming, the Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, said: "Providing educational aid promotes the friendship between our two countries. We are delighted to be able to make a contribution to the economic and social development of Kenya."

CCCC has also supported a number of other educational initiatives, including building a primary school in Burundi, Ethiopia and Mauritania.

Source: China Daily