China’s Role in The Development of Sub-Saharan Africa

China’s Role in The Development of Sub-Saharan Africa
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China’s Role in The Development of Sub-Saharan Africa
Introduction
China has been funding several projects in Africa. One of the recent projects funded by China in the continent is a railway line in Kenya, which starts from the port city of Mombasa to Nairobi, it's capital and the largest city. The project cost was $3.2 billion and is Kenya’s most expensive infrastructural project since independenceCITATION Sam18 \l 1033 (Kazungu, 2018). Kenya is seeking to extend the railway line to traverse the country into Uganda, her largest trading partner, for an additional cost of $5.2 billionCITATION Sam18 \l 1033 (Kazungu, 2018). In Ethiopia, Kenya’s neighbor to the North also has had the Chinese government fund a railway line from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital to Djibouti’s Port of Dolareh. The project cost $3.4 billion, predominantly financed by China Exim Bank (70%) and the Ethiopian government CITATION Abd17 \l 1033 (Shaban, 2017). China’s investment in Africa is not only in the transport sector but also in energy. In Guinea, a mineral-rich West African country, had a damn constructed over the Konkoure river and produces 750 MW of hydroelectric power for $1 billion CITATION Sal07 \l 1033 (Samb, 2007). These are some of the projects that China has fully or partially funded in African in the last two decades. It is evident that China has strong interest in working with African countries to develop infrastructurally. This move has led to Africa racking up huge loans in the past few decades. Beijing has advanced loans worth US$143 billion to African countries since 2000 CITATION Jev19 \l 1033 (Nyabiage, 2019). The total amount of external debt for the continent is estimated at $417bn, with 20% owed to China, which is the largest single creditor nation to the continent, and some people claim that these loans are unsustainable CITATION BBC181 \l 1033 (BBC, 2018). However, Africa is a developing continent and is wriggling to come out of poverty. As western lenders continue to offer loans on certain conditions and their economy faltering, China has become a new and worthy alternative to African nations to fund infrastructural projects. It is a move that has been criticized by many people citing it is a potential debt-trap with some countries like Djibouti owing nearly 77% of its debt to Chinese lenders. The bigger picture points to China is playing a big role in Africa’s development especially infrastructurally.
Background
The main reason for China to work with African countries is hard to pin down. Many people claim that the Chinese government is putting Africa into a debt trap. They cite Sri Lanka’s case where the Chinese government-controlled companies advanced $8 billion to Sri Lanka, and when the government was unable to repay it, they took up the port and signed an agreement that it was to be returned to Sri Lankan government after 99 years CITATION Kai17 \l 1033 (Schultz, 2017). Though there is no African country whose infrastructure and or property been taken control over by the Chinese government for defaulting on their loans, there have been speculations that it is possible. T...