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China-sponsored special economic zones (SEZs) in Africa are still in their early stages, and development of these zones on the continent has thus far not been problem-free. But the potential for Africa is huge if these zones can fulfil their goals.
These SEZs have in recent years become a mainstay of China’s investment commitment to Africa. Yet how successful has China been in making these zones work Indeed, have they produced any tangible results for Africa yet?
There are currently several of these SEZs in varying stages of development on the continent. One of the oldest and most developed SEZs is in Zambia’s Copperbelt region. Built around a$250-million copper smelter project, the SEZ has come to include Chinese investment in the ancillary sectors of tin, uranium and diamonds, and is expected to reach completion in 2014 with a total investment of up to $1 billion. The oldest Chinese SEZ in Africa, however, is located in Egypt, where discussions had already commenced in 1994 on its construction. The Egyptian SEZ, focusing on textiles & garments, petroleum equipment, automobile and electronics assembly, initially experienced various problems but was eventually officially opened in 2009.
Other China-sponsored SEZs are under development in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mauritius, although none of these have yet to be formally opened. There are purportedly also discussions currently underway for additional SEZs in Tanza-
The ChinAfrica Econometer is produced by The Beijing Axis, a cross-border business bridge to/from China in four principal areas: Commodities, Capital, Procurement, & strategy.
nia, Mozambique and Angola (plans for an SEZ in Algeria were suspended following changes in Algerian legislation on foreign investment). Only the zones in Ethiopia and Mauritius are 100 percent Chinese-owned (the rest are joint ventures), and only one of these zones (in Zambia) is focused on mineral processing (the rest focus mainly on manufacturing).
Typically, development of the SEZ involves three parties: Chinese developers, African governments and the Chinese Government (along with local Chinese governments). Players from the Chinese Government side put out tenders and provide funding and support for Chinese developers operating in the zones, while African governments are expected to regulate activities in the SEZs and provide incentives for further development.
With the exception of the SEZ in Egypt, China-sponsored SEZs in Africa have yet to reach fruition, and some seem to be experiencing problems with lagging development (i.e. the Ethiopian SEZ). Yet as the Egyptian SEZ illustrates, SEZs in Africa require a very long development timeframe (anywhere between 10-15 years) due to the scale of construction required, and usually have to work through a maze of problems to become fully operational. Despite these difficulties, the current environment of economic growth in Africa is better suited than ever for SEZs, and the payoff in new jobs and development in Africa will be substantial if China can successfully copy and adapt its SEZ model to the African continent.
For more information, please contact:
Barry van Wyk, barryvanwyk@thebeijingaxis.com www.thebeijingaxis.com
GUINEA_April: African Iron Ore Group Limited announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Machinery Engineering Corporation(CMEC), China’s leading power plant infrastructure exporter. Under the terms of the MoU, CMEC has been appointed to join an existing consortium of Chinese companies to provide infrastructure solutions for Central and West African iron ore projects, with an immediate focus on the Simandou South iron ore project in Guinea.
ANGOLA_April: The Angolan Government signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing its intention to cooperate on the review of the plan for rehabilitating, constructing and expanding the General Hospital of Luanda. The new building, which will replace the existing structure, will have a capacity of more than 250 beds and be completed by July 2014.
ZIMBABWE_April: During the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), it was announced that plans were underway between Zimbabwe and China to turn the city of Bulawayo into an economic zone, with an aim toward reviving the city’s ailing manufacturing industry. Next steps call for signing a memorandum of understanding between the two countries, after a sizable Chinese delegation visited the city last week to seek viable investment projects as well as establish strategic partnerships with their Zimbabwean counterparts.
ETHIOPIA_May: Guangdong Chuan Hui Group announced new details about the projects it is developing in Ethiopia, including the proposed 264-meter high Chuan Hui International Hotel in Addis Ababa, set to become Africa’s tallest building when it is completed in 2017. The project is expected to create working opportunities for local people and will also promote the development of local tourism industry.
UGANDA_May: Makerere University’s College of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei as part of the company’s ongoing global knowledge transfer program. The company will sponsor scholarships for top performing students to receive specialized ICT training in Huawei Centers in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa including an opportunity to study at the Huawei University in China. Boosting Green Cars
The State Council said recently that China will move faster to develop its energy saving and new-energy vehicle industry to ease pressure on resources and the environment. Prioritizing pure electricity-driven vehicles will be the major strategic route for China to transform the automobile industry. And the current focus is to promote the industrialization of pure electric cars and plug in hybrid electric vehicles.
Nano Technology
China will further industrialize the use of a new material developed with the help of nanotechnology to ensure the safety of its power grids, according to a statement from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNT) in May. The NCNT said the material has undergone strict testing and technical evaluations and will be used to solve the problem of flashover. Other projects based on the use of the new material are in the research phase and will eventually be applied to China’s power grids on a large scale, the NCNT said.
Big Health Budget
China’s Ministry of Health said recently that its 2012 budget would amount to 80 billion yuan ($12.69 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 13.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion). According to a statement released by the ministry, medical services will get the lion’s share, 10.9 billion yuan ($1.73 billion), in order to improve the capacity of major clinical departments at public hospitals.
Retailers’ Sales Surging
China’s top 100 retailers’ sales revenues surged 20.9 percent year on year to 2 trillion yuan ($317 billion) in 2011, according to a report released by the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) in May. The growth rate dipped by 0.9 percentage point compared to that registered in 2010, said the report. The leading retailing enterprises’ sales accounted for 10.9 percent of the total retail sales.
Slow Tax Growth
China’s first-quarter tax revenues grew at the slowest pace in three years, as a result of the country’s cooling economy. Tax revenues totaled 2.59 trillion yuan ($410.4 billion) in the first quarter, up 10.3 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Finance. The eased pace came as China’s industrial value-added output and profits, key measures of industrial performances, both saw slower growth in the first two months.
Buy Local Goods
A nationwide campaign was launched in May with the aim of encouraging South Africans to buy local goods. With a theme of “Be Proudly South African - Buy Local to Create Jobs,”the year-long campaign will include road shows, business forums and mall activation, said the organizers. For each of the country’s provinces, the road shows will kick off with a business forum, followed by mall promotions, expos and meetings with church bodies, community organizations and schools, said the organization. Loan Rates Liberalization
As China progressively introduces policies favoring a market-based currency exchange rate, it is also moving to accelerate the liberalization of interest rates, probably starting with lending rates, according to Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People’s Bank of China. Zhou said the government needs to relax controls on lending rates first. He said the government should then liberalize deposit rates gradually by encouraging the development of alternative liability products and widening the fluctuation band for deposit rates.
Double Textile Output
Chinese textile producers aim to more than double the country’s textile output by 2020 from the 2010 level, according to a 10-year plan from the China National Textile and Apparel Council in May. The textile industry is planning to increase textile and clothing exports by an annual rate of about 7 percent and boost the export value of fiber products to $400 billion by 2020, said the plan.
Boost Energy-Efficient Construction
The Chinese Government has established a goal of having energy-efficient buildings account for 30 percent of new construction projects by 2020, according to an official document jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and UrbanRural Development. According to the document, the government will adopt a slew of measures including increasing policy incentives and improving industry standards, as well as promoting technological progress and the development of related industries in order to attain the goal.
Better Infrastructure
The World Bank has provided $300 million to Kenya under a new program to improve Nairobi’s competitiveness in terms of better infrastructure and other public service delivery. A statement from the bank said the Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project will benefit more than 1.5 million people working and living in Nairobi’s metropolitan region.
These SEZs have in recent years become a mainstay of China’s investment commitment to Africa. Yet how successful has China been in making these zones work Indeed, have they produced any tangible results for Africa yet?
There are currently several of these SEZs in varying stages of development on the continent. One of the oldest and most developed SEZs is in Zambia’s Copperbelt region. Built around a$250-million copper smelter project, the SEZ has come to include Chinese investment in the ancillary sectors of tin, uranium and diamonds, and is expected to reach completion in 2014 with a total investment of up to $1 billion. The oldest Chinese SEZ in Africa, however, is located in Egypt, where discussions had already commenced in 1994 on its construction. The Egyptian SEZ, focusing on textiles & garments, petroleum equipment, automobile and electronics assembly, initially experienced various problems but was eventually officially opened in 2009.
Other China-sponsored SEZs are under development in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mauritius, although none of these have yet to be formally opened. There are purportedly also discussions currently underway for additional SEZs in Tanza-
The ChinAfrica Econometer is produced by The Beijing Axis, a cross-border business bridge to/from China in four principal areas: Commodities, Capital, Procurement, & strategy.
nia, Mozambique and Angola (plans for an SEZ in Algeria were suspended following changes in Algerian legislation on foreign investment). Only the zones in Ethiopia and Mauritius are 100 percent Chinese-owned (the rest are joint ventures), and only one of these zones (in Zambia) is focused on mineral processing (the rest focus mainly on manufacturing).
Typically, development of the SEZ involves three parties: Chinese developers, African governments and the Chinese Government (along with local Chinese governments). Players from the Chinese Government side put out tenders and provide funding and support for Chinese developers operating in the zones, while African governments are expected to regulate activities in the SEZs and provide incentives for further development.
With the exception of the SEZ in Egypt, China-sponsored SEZs in Africa have yet to reach fruition, and some seem to be experiencing problems with lagging development (i.e. the Ethiopian SEZ). Yet as the Egyptian SEZ illustrates, SEZs in Africa require a very long development timeframe (anywhere between 10-15 years) due to the scale of construction required, and usually have to work through a maze of problems to become fully operational. Despite these difficulties, the current environment of economic growth in Africa is better suited than ever for SEZs, and the payoff in new jobs and development in Africa will be substantial if China can successfully copy and adapt its SEZ model to the African continent.
For more information, please contact:
Barry van Wyk, barryvanwyk@thebeijingaxis.com www.thebeijingaxis.com
GUINEA_April: African Iron Ore Group Limited announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Machinery Engineering Corporation(CMEC), China’s leading power plant infrastructure exporter. Under the terms of the MoU, CMEC has been appointed to join an existing consortium of Chinese companies to provide infrastructure solutions for Central and West African iron ore projects, with an immediate focus on the Simandou South iron ore project in Guinea.
ANGOLA_April: The Angolan Government signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing its intention to cooperate on the review of the plan for rehabilitating, constructing and expanding the General Hospital of Luanda. The new building, which will replace the existing structure, will have a capacity of more than 250 beds and be completed by July 2014.
ZIMBABWE_April: During the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), it was announced that plans were underway between Zimbabwe and China to turn the city of Bulawayo into an economic zone, with an aim toward reviving the city’s ailing manufacturing industry. Next steps call for signing a memorandum of understanding between the two countries, after a sizable Chinese delegation visited the city last week to seek viable investment projects as well as establish strategic partnerships with their Zimbabwean counterparts.
ETHIOPIA_May: Guangdong Chuan Hui Group announced new details about the projects it is developing in Ethiopia, including the proposed 264-meter high Chuan Hui International Hotel in Addis Ababa, set to become Africa’s tallest building when it is completed in 2017. The project is expected to create working opportunities for local people and will also promote the development of local tourism industry.
UGANDA_May: Makerere University’s College of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei as part of the company’s ongoing global knowledge transfer program. The company will sponsor scholarships for top performing students to receive specialized ICT training in Huawei Centers in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa including an opportunity to study at the Huawei University in China. Boosting Green Cars
The State Council said recently that China will move faster to develop its energy saving and new-energy vehicle industry to ease pressure on resources and the environment. Prioritizing pure electricity-driven vehicles will be the major strategic route for China to transform the automobile industry. And the current focus is to promote the industrialization of pure electric cars and plug in hybrid electric vehicles.
Nano Technology
China will further industrialize the use of a new material developed with the help of nanotechnology to ensure the safety of its power grids, according to a statement from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNT) in May. The NCNT said the material has undergone strict testing and technical evaluations and will be used to solve the problem of flashover. Other projects based on the use of the new material are in the research phase and will eventually be applied to China’s power grids on a large scale, the NCNT said.
Big Health Budget
China’s Ministry of Health said recently that its 2012 budget would amount to 80 billion yuan ($12.69 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 13.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion). According to a statement released by the ministry, medical services will get the lion’s share, 10.9 billion yuan ($1.73 billion), in order to improve the capacity of major clinical departments at public hospitals.
Retailers’ Sales Surging
China’s top 100 retailers’ sales revenues surged 20.9 percent year on year to 2 trillion yuan ($317 billion) in 2011, according to a report released by the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) in May. The growth rate dipped by 0.9 percentage point compared to that registered in 2010, said the report. The leading retailing enterprises’ sales accounted for 10.9 percent of the total retail sales.
Slow Tax Growth
China’s first-quarter tax revenues grew at the slowest pace in three years, as a result of the country’s cooling economy. Tax revenues totaled 2.59 trillion yuan ($410.4 billion) in the first quarter, up 10.3 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Finance. The eased pace came as China’s industrial value-added output and profits, key measures of industrial performances, both saw slower growth in the first two months.
Buy Local Goods
A nationwide campaign was launched in May with the aim of encouraging South Africans to buy local goods. With a theme of “Be Proudly South African - Buy Local to Create Jobs,”the year-long campaign will include road shows, business forums and mall activation, said the organizers. For each of the country’s provinces, the road shows will kick off with a business forum, followed by mall promotions, expos and meetings with church bodies, community organizations and schools, said the organization. Loan Rates Liberalization
As China progressively introduces policies favoring a market-based currency exchange rate, it is also moving to accelerate the liberalization of interest rates, probably starting with lending rates, according to Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People’s Bank of China. Zhou said the government needs to relax controls on lending rates first. He said the government should then liberalize deposit rates gradually by encouraging the development of alternative liability products and widening the fluctuation band for deposit rates.
Double Textile Output
Chinese textile producers aim to more than double the country’s textile output by 2020 from the 2010 level, according to a 10-year plan from the China National Textile and Apparel Council in May. The textile industry is planning to increase textile and clothing exports by an annual rate of about 7 percent and boost the export value of fiber products to $400 billion by 2020, said the plan.
Boost Energy-Efficient Construction
The Chinese Government has established a goal of having energy-efficient buildings account for 30 percent of new construction projects by 2020, according to an official document jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and UrbanRural Development. According to the document, the government will adopt a slew of measures including increasing policy incentives and improving industry standards, as well as promoting technological progress and the development of related industries in order to attain the goal.
Better Infrastructure
The World Bank has provided $300 million to Kenya under a new program to improve Nairobi’s competitiveness in terms of better infrastructure and other public service delivery. A statement from the bank said the Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project will benefit more than 1.5 million people working and living in Nairobi’s metropolitan region.