China’s Port Projects in Ghana to Drive African Country’s Growth
A Chinese construction worker stands on land that was reclaimed from the Indian Ocean for the Colombo Port City project on January 2, 2018. The project was initiated as part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative in Colombo, Sri Lanka. China says its initiative to build ports and other infrastructure paid for with Chinese loans across Asia and Africa will boost trade. 
Experts have applauded China’s assistance to African countries and underlined that, unlike the West, China sticks to the principle of non-intervention and does not use its aid as a political instrument.Two Chinese port projects under Ghana’s port expansion program will drive economic growth in the African country, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated.“The construction of the modern oil and gas services terminal is part of the strategic development of the port of Takoradi. The completion of this project will accommodate oil and gas service providers, fabrication companies, exploration companies, and their suppliers for supply-base activities,” Akufo-Addo elaborated.The project is being implemented by China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), which is constructing the oil and gas terminal, floating dry dock, and ship maintenance facility.”The floating dry dock and ship maintenance facility is meant to carry out maintenance work on vessels. I have no doubt that this project and many others will spur rapid economic growth and accelerate the development of our economy,” the president said.According to CHEC, the construction will be finished in the next 18-22 months, while putting the port parts into operation will create around 500 local jobs.China has been providing assistance to Africa for several decades. In particular, China invested $200 million in the recent construction of Zimbabwe’s six-story parliament building to replace the old parliament constructed in British colony times. However, the development of public facilities accounts for only a small portion of Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa: the Asian country is actively manifesting itself in other areas, including poverty alleviation and infrastructure development. In November, the Afro-China alliance aiming to combat poverty was established. At the end of the alliance’s opening ceremony, the Annual Report on Poverty Reduction in Africa 2022 and China-Africa Poverty Reduction and Development Cooperation Case Series 2022 were prepared and released.The ceremony’s participants indicated that China is currently cooperating with Africa to reduce poverty in seven areas, such as agriculture, healthcare, education, human resource development cooperation, infrastructure construction and digital economy cooperation.The construction of the Tanzania-Zambia railway, known as the road of freedom and friendship, was cited during the ceremony as an example of successful cooperation between the two countries.
AfricaChina Helps Africa To Erase Colonial Past, Experts Say26 November, 07:42 GMTNotably, according to the Center for Global Development’s analysis from February 2022, China’s two main overseas development banks invested $23 billion in infrastructure projects on the continent between 2007 and 2020, $8 billion more than the combined contribution of Africa’s other top eight lenders, including the World Bank, African Development Bank and Western development banks.Meanwhile, the development of many infrastructure projects in Africa is being carried out by China as part of its “Belt and Road” initiative aimed at developing infrastructure in a number of developing countries.In addition, China is actively supporting Africa in the health sphere. During the pandemic, China supplied the African continent with vaccines and personal protective equipment.
