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POOR infrastructure has long been the Achilles’ heel of many African countries, hampering economic development and impacting on people’s daily lives. Providing infrastructure is therefore high on the agenda in Africa and one company heavily involved in this field is China’s Sinohydro Group Ltd.
A leading company in the hydroelectric industry, Sinohydro has been committed to developing China’s hydropower and harnessing water sources. It has built or been involved in the construction of 70 percent of China’s large and mediumsized hydropower or water control projects with a cumulative installed capacity of nearly 130 million kw. With nearly 70 percent of domestic hydropower market share, Sinohydro went public in October 2011. up to the end of 2011, its total assets amounted to 95.6 billion yuan ($15.1 billion).
The core competitiveness accumulated in the domestic market enabled Sinohydro’s outstanding performance in the oversea arena. The company signed construction contracts and launched economic and technological cooperation with over 62 countries and regions in Asia, Africa and America. Currently, it has set up 71 representative agencies and branches in more than 58 countries, running about 311 projects with a total contract amounting to $29.2 billion and with businesses covering hydropower stations, airports and highways constructions. At the end of 2011, oversea business revenue reached $43.9 billion.
Sinohydro in Africa
Sinohydro began to explore the African market in the early 1980s. In recent years, its business on the continent has taken off. According to Ding Zhengguo, Assistant to the President of Sinohydro Group Ltd., there were 134 projects under construction worth nearly $14.2 billion in 24 African countries and about 10,000 employees working on these projects. “Our business network has almost covered the whole continent,” Ding said at a conference about Sino-African economic cooperation held by China-Africa Economic and Technological Cooperation Committee in June 2011.
Projects undertaken by the company include the construction of dams, hydropower stations, urban water supply and rural irrigation systems, roads, schools and hospitals. “These projects are vital to the improvement of local people’s livelihood, and thus are warmly welcomed by locals,” Ding said. Taking Tekese Hydroelectric Station in Ethiopia for example, the double curvature dam with a height of 190 meters, the highest one under construction in Africa, will increase the country’s electricity supply capacity by 30 percent.
Ding added that through accumulated experiences in this field, Sinohydro had trained a large number of experts and technical personnel who were able to handle any hydroelectric project construction. “With advanced technological skills, the personnel lay a solid foundation for the quality of our projects,” Ding said.
Some French, Belgian, Spanish and Brazilian companies are also engaged in infrastructure construction in Africa. “Our competitiveness is obvious. Chinese workers are hardworking, being willing to work in remote areas with harsh living conditions where workers from other countries may be reluctant to go,” Wang Anquan, Director of Department II of Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. told ChinAfrica. “Chinese enterprises are highly regarded by local people as the [infrastructure] projects are built with high quality but with lower cost compared with Western companies,” he added.
Socially responsible
Sinohydro Group Ltd. has been combining economic performance with a humanistic social policy since it launched its business in Africa. “Now we explore the African market not solely for economic profits, but focus on what we could bring to locals,” Wang told ChinAfrica, adding that the company had built sustainable development programs to foster African countries’ capacity building efforts.
Wherever available, Sinohydro will choose local suppliers and local labor. According to Wang, the ratio between local employees and Chinese employees is about 20 to one. “While giving them job offers, we attach great importance to develop their skills and management abilities,” Wang said, adding that locals could be promoted to middle-level managers.
In 2009, Sinohydro sponsored 63 Angolan students to start a five-year undergraduate study on Chinese and civil engineering in Wuhan university, in central China. In Kenya, it also offered scholarships to four primary schools and four high schools in the district where Sasuma Dam was built. Ji Qi, manager of the project said the company donated stationery and footballs and volleyballs to local pupils, 12,500 shillings to high school students as a scholarship, and paid the entire tuition fee for an orphan.
With all of these efforts, the company’s image has improved among African people. “Locals really like us as we indeed do something for them,” Wang said.
Unfair criticisms
Chinese companies engaging in infrastructure construction in African countries have come in for criticism over concerns of environmental damage. A comment by Peter Bosshard published in Pambazuka News, a flagship publication of Fahamu, expressed such a concern.
China’s investments in Africa are concentrated in sectors which are environmentally sensitive (such as oil and gas exploration, mining, hydropower and timber), and in infrastructure projects which help to facilitate environmentally sensitive investments (such as roads, railways and transmission lines).
“There are indeed some similar criticisms during the past years, especially around 2008. But facts speak louder [than words],” Wang told ChinAfrica. He explained that to date, these projects by Chinese companies didn’t bring many profits to businesspeople but did improve the conditions of millions of Africans. “So the criticisms have reduced now,” he added.
Liu Ranling, General Secretary of China-Africa Economic and Technological Cooperation Committee, agrees. “It is unfair to blame all the faults [environmental damage] on enterprises who construct the hydropower stations or dams like Sinohydro, as sometimes they are just carrying out what is on a blueprint,”Liu said in an interview with ChinAfrica. “Many blueprints are designed by international companies, not necessarily Chinese ones. It is they who decide the location of the project,”she added.
A leading company in the hydroelectric industry, Sinohydro has been committed to developing China’s hydropower and harnessing water sources. It has built or been involved in the construction of 70 percent of China’s large and mediumsized hydropower or water control projects with a cumulative installed capacity of nearly 130 million kw. With nearly 70 percent of domestic hydropower market share, Sinohydro went public in October 2011. up to the end of 2011, its total assets amounted to 95.6 billion yuan ($15.1 billion).
The core competitiveness accumulated in the domestic market enabled Sinohydro’s outstanding performance in the oversea arena. The company signed construction contracts and launched economic and technological cooperation with over 62 countries and regions in Asia, Africa and America. Currently, it has set up 71 representative agencies and branches in more than 58 countries, running about 311 projects with a total contract amounting to $29.2 billion and with businesses covering hydropower stations, airports and highways constructions. At the end of 2011, oversea business revenue reached $43.9 billion.
Sinohydro in Africa
Sinohydro began to explore the African market in the early 1980s. In recent years, its business on the continent has taken off. According to Ding Zhengguo, Assistant to the President of Sinohydro Group Ltd., there were 134 projects under construction worth nearly $14.2 billion in 24 African countries and about 10,000 employees working on these projects. “Our business network has almost covered the whole continent,” Ding said at a conference about Sino-African economic cooperation held by China-Africa Economic and Technological Cooperation Committee in June 2011.
Projects undertaken by the company include the construction of dams, hydropower stations, urban water supply and rural irrigation systems, roads, schools and hospitals. “These projects are vital to the improvement of local people’s livelihood, and thus are warmly welcomed by locals,” Ding said. Taking Tekese Hydroelectric Station in Ethiopia for example, the double curvature dam with a height of 190 meters, the highest one under construction in Africa, will increase the country’s electricity supply capacity by 30 percent.
Ding added that through accumulated experiences in this field, Sinohydro had trained a large number of experts and technical personnel who were able to handle any hydroelectric project construction. “With advanced technological skills, the personnel lay a solid foundation for the quality of our projects,” Ding said.
Some French, Belgian, Spanish and Brazilian companies are also engaged in infrastructure construction in Africa. “Our competitiveness is obvious. Chinese workers are hardworking, being willing to work in remote areas with harsh living conditions where workers from other countries may be reluctant to go,” Wang Anquan, Director of Department II of Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. told ChinAfrica. “Chinese enterprises are highly regarded by local people as the [infrastructure] projects are built with high quality but with lower cost compared with Western companies,” he added.
Socially responsible
Sinohydro Group Ltd. has been combining economic performance with a humanistic social policy since it launched its business in Africa. “Now we explore the African market not solely for economic profits, but focus on what we could bring to locals,” Wang told ChinAfrica, adding that the company had built sustainable development programs to foster African countries’ capacity building efforts.
Wherever available, Sinohydro will choose local suppliers and local labor. According to Wang, the ratio between local employees and Chinese employees is about 20 to one. “While giving them job offers, we attach great importance to develop their skills and management abilities,” Wang said, adding that locals could be promoted to middle-level managers.
In 2009, Sinohydro sponsored 63 Angolan students to start a five-year undergraduate study on Chinese and civil engineering in Wuhan university, in central China. In Kenya, it also offered scholarships to four primary schools and four high schools in the district where Sasuma Dam was built. Ji Qi, manager of the project said the company donated stationery and footballs and volleyballs to local pupils, 12,500 shillings to high school students as a scholarship, and paid the entire tuition fee for an orphan.
With all of these efforts, the company’s image has improved among African people. “Locals really like us as we indeed do something for them,” Wang said.
Unfair criticisms
Chinese companies engaging in infrastructure construction in African countries have come in for criticism over concerns of environmental damage. A comment by Peter Bosshard published in Pambazuka News, a flagship publication of Fahamu, expressed such a concern.
China’s investments in Africa are concentrated in sectors which are environmentally sensitive (such as oil and gas exploration, mining, hydropower and timber), and in infrastructure projects which help to facilitate environmentally sensitive investments (such as roads, railways and transmission lines).
“There are indeed some similar criticisms during the past years, especially around 2008. But facts speak louder [than words],” Wang told ChinAfrica. He explained that to date, these projects by Chinese companies didn’t bring many profits to businesspeople but did improve the conditions of millions of Africans. “So the criticisms have reduced now,” he added.
Liu Ranling, General Secretary of China-Africa Economic and Technological Cooperation Committee, agrees. “It is unfair to blame all the faults [environmental damage] on enterprises who construct the hydropower stations or dams like Sinohydro, as sometimes they are just carrying out what is on a blueprint,”Liu said in an interview with ChinAfrica. “Many blueprints are designed by international companies, not necessarily Chinese ones. It is they who decide the location of the project,”she added.