China finances US$9.3 billion for African hydropower dams

esi-africa.com ^

[AfricanChristian]

New York, United States --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 13 September 2011 - The Chinese ‒ through their engineering and manufacturing giants ‒recently completed or are in the process of participating in hydropower projects worth US$9.3 billion in various countries across the African continent.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg and International Rivers ‒ a Berkeley, California-based environmental group ‒ the hydropower projects concerned are in Zambia, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and elsewhere on the continent,

When completed in 2013, Gibe III on Ethiopia’s Omo River will be Africa’s tallest dam ‒ a US$2.2 billion project. Some 965km to the north, Sudan is preparing to build the US$705 million Kajbar dam on the Nile River. The US$729 million Bui project on the Black Volta River, to be finished in 2013, will boost Ghana’s hydropower capacity by a third.

What these megaprojects have in common is Chinese money and know-how. Companies such as Sinohydro Corporation and Dongfang Electric Corporation are key players in their construction, and they are financed by Chinese banks with support from the government in Beijing, reports Bloomberg Businessweek in its latest issue.

A similar, if smaller, push is happening in newer renewable technologies. Chinese enterprises are now the top investors in African solar power, and China’s government in June earmarked US$100 million for solar projects in 40 African countries. Chinese photovoltaic panels already power street lights in Sudan, sit atop schools and hospitals elsewhere and can be found in United Nations-supported refugee camps in the Sahara.

[SierraWasp]

Ok then, it's time to call all the EnvironMental dictitorial groups with all their lawyers and deductible contributions received to suggest they head for the UN and all the effected African nayshuns to litigate everything on this idea to a grinding halt!!!

It's time China learned about America's more virolent brand of COMMUNISM!!!

The luddite EnvironMentals, once started, will not stop with just stopping all these new dam ideas, they'll lobby for removal of the giant Aswan dam on de Nile river in Egypt!!!

[Moltke]

What these megaprojects have in common is Chinese money and know-how.

Never mind where most of that know-how originated... 99% of today's engineering knowledge is freely available through textbooks and the internet. Just when will Africans be able to do something on their own without outside help? If they don't even try - and mistakes and 'growing pains' are to be expected - how will they ever hope to gain true independence?

[AfricanChristian]

There is a whole lot of difference between learning structural engineering from a textbook and actually putting a structure in place. Putting a structure in place requires financing, project management skills and experience.

Trust me, several relatively complex civil engineering projects are being handled by local firms. You don't get to hear about them in the news.

Secondly, technology transfer actually does occur. Several African business people have transitioned from importing finished industrial products from the Chinese to actually manufacturing these products locally.

For example, a Nigerian businessman transitioned from importing brake pads and motorcycle parts from the Chinese to actually manufacturing motor vehicles.

His very rudimentary plant is shown below:

And this is what his finished product looks like

There is an entire cluster of industries in South-Eastern Nigeria where a very small scale industrial revolution is occurring. It is fragile though, as Africa has problems with electricity and other basic infrastructure, but the Chinese tend to see potential in the unlikeliest of places and they are quite involved there.

[MimirsWell]

One can’t and shouldn’t fault the Chinese for such projects or suspect their intentions. Electricity cannot be “shipped to China”. This will clearly benefit Africa and Africans in the long run.

[Cronos]

If those are Chinese made or inspired, they’re going to break down pretty quickly.

[AfricanChristian]

If those are Chinese made or inspired, they’re going to break down pretty quickly.

No problem, they'll break down about the same time as the Chinese constructed San Francisco bay bridge. In any case, as long as they last they will generate much needed economic activity - a whole lot better than so-called "foreign aid" that usually ends up in a dictator's bank account.

[Cronos]

The Bay Bridge in San Francisco will break down in a couple of years, tops. Its better for the various African nations to develop their own technology

[AfricanChristian]

They’ll do that.

Trust me the Chinese are not building up to 0.001% of the infrastructure required.