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IV. C. Private Contractors and Builders: THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Guest post by: International Monetary Fund

Article Overview: Private Chinese companies compete actively for construction contracts in Africa. When Chinese companies first entered the market, they tended to be large and state-owned (e.g., China Overseas Engineering Corporation, China Roads and Bridges Corporation, China Railway Construction Corporation, and Harbin Power Corporation).

IV. C. Private Contractors and Builders: THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Private Chinese companies compete actively for construction contracts in Africa. When
Chinese companies first entered the market, they tended to be large and state-owned (e.g.,
China Overseas Engineering Corporation, China Roads and Bridges Corporation, China
Railway Construction Corporation, and Harbin Power Corporation). Now the number of
private Chinese construction companies is growing rapidly, as are their size and capacity.
Competition between Chinese companies is fierce. While state-owned enterprises receive
more assistance from the Chinese government in terms of access to African governments and
information on market trends, the private construction companies seem to be more efficient
in implementing projects (CFCS, 2006, pp.77).
Typically, state-owned companies arrive with their own workforce.23 A minority of these
workers stay in Africa after the work is completed and become independent contractors.
Thus, there are a variety of private Chinese contractors and builders in the African market,
some as small as single-person operations established by Chinese nationals residing in
Africa. Some were originally private subcontractors for state-owned companies they had
worked for in China, specializing in different areas of construction, like plumbing, electrical
engineering, or air conditioning. There are no reliable figures on the number of Chinese now
working in Africa. A recent study notes that the Chinese authorities identified 78,000 of them
on the continent (ECOWAS–SWAS/OECD, 2006).

IMF Working Paper
African Department
What Drives China’s Growing Role in Africa?
Prepared by Jian-Ye Wang
October 2007

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Article Tags: african governments, cfcs, china railway, chinese authorities, chinese companies, chinese government, chinese nationals, construction contracts, construction corporation, engineering corporation, independent contractors, market trends, oecd, overseas engineering, person operations, private construction companies, railway construction, roads and bridges, state owned enterprises, swas



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