China Africa Photo: Xinhua

Chinese companies have steadily pushed forward the construction of projects in Africa, as China and Africa step up cooperation in the new year in traditional areas including infrastructure and agriculture, as well as in emerging sectors like vaccine donations to fight against COVID-19.

In February, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has accelerated the infrastructure construction in Tanzania and Nigeria, the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
On February 8, the CCECC started construction for a light rail project along the shoreline in Lagos, Nigeria, further ensuring the completion of the project before the end of the year. 

Experts noted that as Lagos is the economic center of Nigeria, the light rail project will not only drive economic growth and improve people's lives, but also create a number of local jobs.

On February 2, the CCECC completed the casting of the first pre-stressed concrete girder of a bridge built in Tanzania amid adverse factors including local complex geology and the impact of the heavy rain in the region. This marks a new stage in the superstructure construction of the bridge project.

In addition to the projects under construction, many Chinese companies have signed new contracts with African countries.

On February 15, the Hunan Construction Engineering Group No.2 Company signed a contract with Larose Investments for the construction of Royal Apartments in Uganda, with the contract amount of $200 million. It will become the tallest residential building in the country once completed.

Additionally, four Chinese firms including Hunan Construction Engineering Group signed a contract with Côte d'Ivoire for the construction of processing factories for agricultural products. The project is scheduled to start construction from March to June 2022, and all processing plants will be completed and put into operation by August 2023. 

Once operational, the annual production capacity is expected to reach 400,000 tons of rubber, 300,000 tons of palm oil and 200,000 tons of seed cotton as primary products.

Moreover, in order to help Africa fight against the pandemic, Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech signed a cooperation agreement with Egypt to build a fully automated cold storage facility in the country that can store 150 million doses of vaccines. When completed, the cold storage facility will be the largest vaccine storage center in Egypt and Africa.

In 2021, total trade between China and Africa exceeded $23.8 billion, up 35.3 percent year-on-year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Experts noted that with deepening economic cooperation between China and Africa in 2022, more companies will contribute to the development of African modernization.

Global Times