Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew into several Africa counties last month, including Kenya, where he lobbied for local support for Chinese construction companies. In Kenya, Wang sought backing for the standard gauge railway line, which is expected not only to cement China’s influence on the continent but also create the link required to promote trade with China.
The SGR is seen as a major step towards implementing the important China-Africa consensus of building high-speed railways on the continent, Wang said in Nairobi.
The initial phase of the SGR from Mombasa to Nairobi is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and is expected to be ready by early 2017. Construction has been delayed since 2013 due to legal squabbles about tendering as well as how to compensate for government-expropriated land.
The African Union and China has agreed on a vision to aid regional integration through infrastructure, and Kenya provides the first important step towards that vision. It is understandable why Wang concluded his tour in Kenya.
The minister visited Sudan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea in a low-key tour that is, however, paints a picture of Africa’s role in China’s long-term plans.
In Nairobi, he met with 10 cabinet secretaries mostly from line ministries supervising projects being managed by Chinese firms.
“We held bilateral talks as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest in sincere and cordial atmosphere and reached broad consensus,” Foreign Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said.
Among cabinet secretaries who were in attendance were Anne Waiguru (Devolution), Henry Rotich (the National Treasury), Michael Kamau (Transport and Infrastructure), Joseph Kaimenyi (Education), Davis Chirchir (Energy), James Macharia (Health), Fred Matiang’i (Information) and Adan Mohamed (Industrialisation).
“The presence of my cabinet colleagues was a clear indication of the seriousness Kenya attaches to our bilateral relations with China. It is an indication that there is a lot more that we can do together,” Ms Mohamed argued.
In Africa, Chinese firms are involved in more than 1,000 projects in transport, mining, construction, energy and even health. The Chinese signed 17 agreements in Kenya last year with the government, touching on diplomatic relations, energy, education and health. Wang was here partly to assess and enhance the implementation of these agreements.
But the growing Chinese influence has been criticised, with economists arguing that the agreements simply mean more debt for Kenya, especially since Kenyans do not know the details of most of the loans. Every agreement the Chinese sign is, for example, associated with a Chinese firm as implementer.
Last year, the Chinese Export-Import Bank signed a loan deal to finance 90 per cent of the first phase of the SGR from Mombasa to Nairobi. The line covering 485km is estimated to cost Sh327 billion. Under the deal, Kenya will cover only 10 per cent of this cost, but a Chinese company will build it.
The Chinese, however, argue that in the end, it is the Kenyan people who will benefit most. “What Kenya needs now is infrastructural. This is less about China’s interests and more about Kenya’s urgent need to develop infrastructure. That is why China is ready to lend a helping hand when a friend is in need,” Wang said.
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