Posted on 05/24/2011 5:52:22 AM PDT by AfricanChristian
The discovery of rich iron ore deposits in parts of the country has increased prospects of Kenya setting up its first steel manufacturing plant.
Intensive prospecting over the past three years has yielded promising data on availability of iron ore deposits, with Kishushe Location in Taita Taveta County topping the list of areas most endowed with the natural resource. Other zones are in western Kenya.
Due to the positive find, a Chinese steel manufacturer has approached Kenyan firm Wanjala Mining Company with a proposal for partnership in the setting up of a local steel manufacturing plant.
Mining site
Wanjala Mining, which set up a Sh600 million mining site at Kishushe two years ago, says it is mulling over the proposal even as it intensifies prospecting to meet the high threshold set by the Chinese firm.
“All they want is a guarantee that we have iron ore deposits to the tune of 20 million tonnes. This is the quantity that would make such a venture, including the construction of a plant locally, economically viable,” said Mr RK Sanghani, the head contractor at Wanjala Mining, during an interview.
A delegation from the Chinese company General Nice Development visited Kishushe between May 5 and 10 and after deliberations agreed to finance a feasibility study for the construction of the steel complex.
Mr Sanghani is to immediately commence consultations with various government departments to get the necessary support and approval for the proposed iron and steel project.
The Chinese firm is a major player in the industry in its home country where it has 37 smelting plants.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.co.ke ...
Sounds like cousin George may have a future employment opportunity......
I hope it works out.
If Barry moved to Nairobi, he could probably run for President and fix their economy as well.
Colonialism.
We are past caring. We want jobs.
If the Chinese provide the jobs, God bless them. If they can’t, we still have the Brazilians and the Indians.
The days of IMF associated BS like “structural adjustment programmes” should be consigned to the trash heap of history.
Africa is not a great place to make $$ unless you’re mining its natural resources. Building a steel plant there is dubious to me, unless its a quid-pro-quo of some kind. If the Chinese want to try to tame Africa, have at it.
There is no shortage of iron ore. It’s coming out of our ears.
It does seem that the Chinese and Indians see it different. Sub-Saharan Africa has a middle class greater than that of India, and one of the fastest growing in the world. Even as Chinese investment in resources goes up, Chinese investment in fast moving consumer goods and other aspects targeted towards the middle class are going up faster. Basically, the Africa experiment for China (to use them as an example) is four-fold ...a it is a resource base (since they require easy to access resources to maintain Chinese growth), b it is a fast growing consumer market (giving a non-Western consumer source for cheap to moderate Chinese goods and industrial products), c it is strategic land-space (if the island of Guam is an 'American aircraft carrier that cannot be sunk' I wonder what that makes Africa), and d finally it provides political weight and strategic depth (ranging from everything from support in international fora, to multi-lateral liaisons, to even the export of Chinese military equipment like the JF-17 ...as well as sourcing of Chinese personnel).
I understand the mindset of the West when it comes to Africa is simply a place to get natural resources (one FReeper a couple years ago told me that it was only good for 'beetle dung'). I can even understand where that mindset would stem from ...there is not much history of political stability (or for that matter, simple common sense) in many of those nations. However, the West has done itself a considerable dis-service only looking at the continent from that lone myopic facet. A dis-service that will one day come to bite it hard on the @$$. Already the US is concerned about China's growing influence in Africa and Latin America (guess so much for beetle dung). In terms of $ the trade between China and Africa (non-resource based) has been growing at prodigious pace. And I can recall in 2007 when I spent some time with a high ranking member of the British High Commission who had organized a trip for a number of young African professionals who they felt had potential to get together and 'chat' at a resort. I was one of them, and I asked the person (name withheld) straight up what was the deal with the largesse. He said one thing ...China. The Brits were trying not to lose the legacy they had in Africa to the Chinese by getting buy-in from as many people as they could who they thought would have future impact.
Anyways, as I said I can easily understand why the average Westerner would write Africa (and to a lesser extent Latin America) off. The ubiquitous corruption, the rampant disease, the myriad wars, the lack of cogent rule of law. However, that mindset is analogous to driving a car using the rear-view mirror. I may not particularly like the Chinese, but I can see what their strategy is (and it is working). Even with my biases, I find it hard to fault them too much when they are constructing (to use an example) 10 lane superhighways in my birthtown of Nairobi (even when I know it is a carrot on a stick). If I, a person who is as American as you can get without being American (I am Kenyan) can feel that way, I wonder what about the average chap on the street who now has electricity, running water, a job, a future (they even have free schools where people learn Chinese ....I wonder why). People are really missing the big picture of what the Chinese are doing in Africa, and while the US/Brit/Western governments are now getting it there is still a considerable disconnect with the average Westerner (I can still remember being asked when I first arrived in the US where I learned how to speak English, which was quite hilarious to me considering the asinine sot of a person who was asking me that question ....my answer is I studied it on the plane using a music CD and a travel catalogue).
Anyways, with (according to a McKinsey report) discretionary spending increasing by 80% in 8 years among households (and with over 80 million households ...not people, households ...having over $5,000 per year, which is the magic number where discretionary spend starts ....with the 80 million households about to hit 125 million households soon as growth accelerates), with GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa being over $1.6 trillion (yes, not the $14 trillion of the USA, but not anywhere where it used to be just 10 years earlier), and as productivity gains increase (ironically, for such a 'risky' continent that is 'not a great place to make $$,' its risk adjusted returns are better than in almost any place in the World) ...as those things continue, it becomes more evident why China, India and Asia (the Indians and Chinese are not the only people East who are delving into Africa) are interested. Also why Western goverments like the Brits spend money to try to influence African professionals in certain positions.
Or maybe everyone is just plain-crazy and they are simply wasting billions on beetle-dung. Dang fools knee-deep in bug guano that may even have ...shock and horror ....ebola! Or maybe, just maybe, they is some 'strategery' to quote the great W.
We'll soon know in the next ten years, when China's Africa (and Latin America, but especially Africa since most of the money is going there) experiment will either be successful (and they will have those four factors I listed above) or they will be in bug-poo with no shovel. Reminds me of that Clint Eastwood movie where Dirty Harry asks the perp whether there were 5 shots or 6, and if the perp is willing to take a gamble and make his day. Interesting gamble. Either way, if a nation that may be the premier antagonist to the West in the future is taking over TWO CONTINENTS (Africa and South America), even if the continents are made out of 'beetle dung' infused with essence of skunk, I would still be mighty wary of what the positive for that nation might be. We'll see in ten years.
Beetle dung, or two continents that will just be beginning to have a middle class of a couple hundred million and deep strategic relationships with China. Were 5 bullets fired, or 6?
Mea culpa for that and other sperring ...erm I mean spelling (had some Chinese food) .... errors.
One advantage that Kenya has is high elevations with pleasant climate. It is hard to advance where the climate is very hot and steamy. Your brain gets fried Look how the Arab lands are brutally hot. It makes them into crazy arse Muslims
Nice to hear from a fellow African. I live in Lagos, opposite sides of Africa.
The Chinese changed the debate about Africa. Before the Chinese came it was a monologue on poverty, AIDS and social development which gave little room for input from Africans. Today, we can talk about infrastructure, real business and industrialisation within an African context and be taken seriously.
I am eternally grateful to the Chinese for that.
In the future expect more aggressive engagement from emerging market economies like Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa and most importantly, India.
Expect Western influence and engagement to decline.
Britain is fighting a losing battle. The British Government has the desire but lacks the funds to play this game. The Brits are closing their British Councils, cutting BBC World Service to the bone and are closing embassies. Meanwhile, the Chinese have almost unlimited funds to buy influence.
And they are doing just that.
In Lagos, Nigeria the local business community sings the praises of China.
Singapore and Malaysia are both “hot and steamy”.
I agree with AC -- that statement is not correct. Remember that in the original "arab" lands of Saudi Arabia and Yemen there were many Christians right up until the 700s when they were kicked out. Yemen was in fact part of the Ethiopian Axumite Christian Empire and was heavily Christian
Also, there are 10% Christians in Egypt (which was the center of the Christian world until the 500s and still has 10% Christians), North AFrica (St. Augustine was from Algiers and was a Berber), Syria (another ancient Christian land and now 20% Christian), Iraq (once 10%, 2 million Christians in 2003, now, thanks to jihadi attacks, down to 400,000 and dropping).
Besides, the hot countries is where civilisation started: Sumeria, Egypt, the Levant, Harappa etc. even Greece and southern Italy are bluidy hot in summer -- I was surprised when I went to Athens in 2004 summer, even the nights were hot.
Nowadays, besides Singapore and Malaysia you have Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, the Philippines etc.
Sadly, a lot of our fellow freepers are an embarrassment to the US and give the wrong idea of this great nation to outsiders.
A very well written post of yours, spetz
the average Western image of Africa is horrible -- the media only shows the bad side. The image for the "average" man may be as bad as "just cannibals, savages". But we aim to improve that, so your posts will educate folks. Keep it up.
Anyways, with (according to a McKinsey report) discretionary spending increasing by 80% in 8 years among households (and with over 80 million households ...not people, households ...having over $5,000 per year, which is the magic number where discretionary spend starts ....with the 80 million households about to hit 125 million households soon as growth accelerates), with GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa being over $1.6 trillion (yes, not the $14 trillion of the USA, but not anywhere where it used to be just 10 years earlier)the problem is that this is across 50 different nations, 50 different sets of laws. The magic number is true enough, but it depends on where the households are concentrated. East AFrica has the bulk of this along with Southern AFrica, but West Africa -- NO. Also, in the East-South region, Kenya, Tanzania are heavily weighted but Zimbabwe, Mozambique, not so much.
I have a lot of fears for South Africa -- the crime rate there is soaring and the new President... well....
Kenya, Tanzania I think have to be considered on their own rights and in their own right they are good investment opportunities and growth areas
In my opinion, the East African states should be forming an Indian Ocean trading group with other countries on the Indian Ocean littoral.
Singapore and Malaysia are both “hot and steamy”.>>>>>>>>
I would like to see how a Northern Chinese person does there, Same as an Englishman or Scandinavian man is going to have a very tough time in the hot parts of Africa. One way the brain can deal better (think better too) with a hot climate is to eat more vegetarian and more fruit. Eat less meat.
Please notice that parts of Africa most successfully settled by north Europeans were the cooler places. Such as South Africa and the highlands of Kenya and Southern Rhodesia
India can be very hot but look how its capital is far in the North. The cooler north
The Chinese are more adaptable and tougher than any Westerner. A few meters from my house is a thriving Chinese market and I have quite a few Chinese neighbours.
I live in Lagos, where temperatures range from 26 degrees centigrade to 33 degrees centigrade.I have also observed Chinese in hotter parts of Nigeria.
If you want to have an idea of how the Chinese would fare in Africa, please read up on the overseas Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
On the other hand, Westerners are limited to a tiny part of town - Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi and often live in fear of the next security warning from their respective embassies.
The average Westerner is too risk averse, too influenced by negative stereotypes (”heart of darkness” to “Tarzan”) and too willfully ignorant on African issues to identify, much less seize opportunities in Africa.
The Indians and Chinese have no such inhibitions.
By the time my children grow up, whatever the West says or does about Africa could be largely irrelevant.
The Chinese are more adaptable and tougher than any Westerner. A few meters from my house is a thriving Chinese market and I have quite a few Chinese neighbours.
I live in Lagos, where temperatures range from 26 degrees centigrade to 33 degrees centigrade.I have also observed Chinese in hotter parts of Nigeria.
If you want to have an idea of how the Chinese would fare in Africa, please read up on the overseas Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
On the other hand, Westerners are limited to a tiny part of town - Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi and often live in fear of the next security warning from their respective embassies.
The average Westerner is too risk averse, too influenced by negative stereotypes (”heart of darkness” to “Tarzan”) and too willfully ignorant on African issues to identify, much less seize opportunities in Africa.
The Indians and Chinese have no such inhibitions.
By the time my children grow up, whatever the West says or does about Africa could be largely irrelevant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.