One of the largest railway companies in China, Construction Corp Ltd (CRCC), has inked two construction deals in Africa worth a combined $5.5 billion, highlighting its ability to compete on the international stage.
CRCC China-Africa Construction LTD, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of CRCC, has signed a $3.51 billion contract to build an intra-city railway in Nigeria in addition to a $1.93 billion construction contract for a residential project in Zimbabwe, China’s Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
Meng Fengchao, the chairman of CRCC, said the deals are another milestone of the company as it is “going global”.
China has recently increased its efforts to gain more international contracts. The two largest Chinese state-owned train makers, CSR Corp and China CNR Corp, are merging to form a new $26 billion mega-company to compete in overseas markets following an approval from the Chinese government in early April.
On the domestic front, China is planning a major expansion of rail routes and is planning to add another 14,545 kilometers of high speed track by 2020, in addition to the current 16,000 kilometers of high speed rail that is already in operation, according to Bloomberg.
China has made a recent push to revive the Silk Road, an ancient trading route that connected Asia to Europe.
China’s New Silk Road is aimed at boosting connectivity of Asian, European, and African continents by constructing major infrastructure projects.
In an effort to support the New Silk Road project, China’s Central Bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has recently been reported to have injected $62 billion of its foreign exchange reserves into two state-owned policy banks.
Last week, China and Pakistan signed a total of 51 agreements to boost economic cooperation in addition to launching a $46 billion economic corridor that will link China’s western region to Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.
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