The city of Kitwe is in the heart of the Zambian copper belt. The new roads and lush green parks intersecting the shanty towns hint at the boom in copper prices, which have quadrupled in six years. But neither Zambian mining firms nor the government paid for them.
The roads and parks are a gift from China. In the past couple of years, all over Africa and Asia, Chinese-built roads, railways, hospitals and schools have been springing up. They are part of China's relentless drive to secure access to the natural resources it needs to maintain its economy's extraordinary boom.
In Nigeria, China has promised to spend $4bn on infrastructure such as railways, power plants and phone networks in return for preferential bidding rights over the country's oil industry. Shell is also thought to be selling its stake in two offshore oil licences in Nigeria. The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is one of the favourites to buy.
Read the complete post at http://www.memeza.com/story.php?title=China_buys_its_future_from_Africa
Posted
Feb 14 2008, 06:18 AM
by
memeza / Zambian News