Page 4 of 9 FirstFirst ... 23456 ... LastLast
Results 61 to 80 of 162

Thread: China's Expanding Role in Africa

  1. #61
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Chinese companies under scrutiny in Zimbabwe

    Ten years into the Look East policy, Zimbabwe is showing itself to be a not-so-satisfied customer of Chinese investment.
    Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/andrew-...ny-in-zimbabwe
    davidbfpo

  2. #62
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    Chinese involvement in Zimbabwe is neither as significant or as strategic (either to the Chinese or the Zimbabweans) as Western Media would have you believe.

    On the other hand, link to a debate on China's role in Africa (organised by intelligence squared).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dpp6...f=list_related

  3. #63
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default

    KingJaJa,

    I don't disagree with your view:
    Chinese involvement in Zimbabwe is neither as significant or as strategic
    From this armchair I do consider the article illustrates Chinese behaviour and the apparent absence of any response by the Zimbabwean state. Zimbabwe gets far more coverage here than many other sub-Saharan countries, even then it is sparse and the article came via a UK-Zimbabwe group.
    davidbfpo

  4. #64
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Hiding from the Dreaded Burrito Gang
    Posts
    3,096

    Default

    Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi hailed Africa as a "golden ground" for foreign investment, and vowed to work with Chinese firms to ensure they comply with local labour laws.
    "Africa is a fertile place for foreign investors and it is a golden ground for Africa to attract foreign investors, especially for infrastructure which is the blood and muscle of a country," Yang said during a visit to Namibia.
    http://news.yahoo.com/china-hails-af...GVzdAM-;_ylv=3
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  5. #65
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default Article in WP about Chinese aid

    The gist is that the Chinese have a better approach to aid than the West.

    KAMPALA, Uganda — China last month sent a senior official to symbolically hand over the keys to a nine-story twin tower to house Uganda’s president and prime minister, a gift from Beijing.

    The white structures with a sloping roof cost China $27 million to build. But — in a strategy that China is increasingly employing around Africa — Beijing didn’t just deliver the money and let Ugandan officials see the project through. It was built by Chinese workers in what aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.

    China has a growing economic footprint in Uganda and much of the rest of Africa, and some Ugandans natives complain of the rising number of Chinese arriving to set up shop. China’s strategic interest in this East African country has deepened at a time when Uganda hopes to become an oil producer.

    But the completion of projects like a modern hospital complex has softened China’s reputation, while Beijing’s efforts to produce turn-key projects are winning fans among Ugandans tired of seeing their officials ripping off foreign aid projects with impunity. Instead of giving cash, the Chinese government prefers to pay Chinese companies to build roads and structures, bypassing local politicians, powerbrokers and construction crews, and to deliver them completed.

    The China model is “more effective. It’s less prone to corruption,” said Sven Grimm, the executive director of the Center for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He said the approach also bolsters China’s economy, because “Chinese enterprises ... go out and gain international experience.”

    Experts say China’s model of donating buildings and roads might help it cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the past year. The Geneva-based financier gets donations from wealthy donor nations and private sources like Bill Gates. But donors recoiled after the fund’s internal watchdog documented more than $50 million in losses due to corruption and other misuse and unauthorized spending, affecting much of Africa, including Uganda.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...10Q_story.html

  6. #66
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa

    These pix give one a feel for the scale of the Chinese presence in Africa.



    Lagos light rail



    Nairobi-Thika Road



    Bui Dam - Ghana



    Dangote Cement Plant, Obajana - built by Sinochem

    This is just the tip of the iceberg and the scale is mind-boggling.

  7. #67
    Council Member Dayuhan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Latitude 17° 5' 11N, Longitude 120° 54' 24E, altitude 1499m. Right where I want to be.
    Posts
    3,137

    Default

    Instead of giving cash, the Chinese government prefers to pay Chinese companies to build roads and structures, bypassing local politicians, powerbrokers and construction crews, and to deliver them completed.

    The China model is “more effective. It’s less prone to corruption,” said Sven Grimm, the executive director of the Center for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He said the approach also bolsters China’s economy, because “Chinese enterprises ... go out and gain international experience.”
    This sort of arrangement is neither new nor uniquely Chinese: it's been used by other countries in other places. The deals are often popular until the project is finished and the loan has to be paid (or whatever quid pro quo associated with the project comes due). Then the complaint is that the funding country took money out of one pocket and put it into another, and the local folks end up paying for years thereafter.

    It would be interesting to look at how exactly these arrangements are structured, and how the Chinese will be taking in their return on investment. I don't expect they're giving anything away.

    What amazes me is that they're able to get away with bringing in Chinese labor to the extent they do... doesn't that get a backlash from the local labor force? It's pretty much accepted here that if the Japanese, Koreans, or Chinese fund a project, the prime contractors will be from those countries and the bulk of the money will be transferred direct from the funding government to those contractors (it's essentially a way for governments to hand money overt to favored firms), but those contractors are expected to hire local labor and there would be a huge and immediate backlash if they tried to bring in workers below the supervisory level.
    “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”

    H.L. Mencken

  8. #68
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    What amazes me is that they're able to get away with bringing in Chinese labor to the extent they do... doesn't that get a backlash from the local labor force? It's pretty much accepted here that if the Japanese, Koreans, or Chinese fund a project, the prime contractors will be from those countries and the bulk of the money will be transferred direct from the funding government to those contractors (it's essentially a way for governments to hand money overt to favored firms), but those contractors are expected to hire local labor and there would be a huge and immediate backlash if they tried to bring in workers below the supervisory level.
    That isn't actually true. The ratio of African to Chinese workers for newly arrived Chinese companies is usually 50:50. For more established companies the ratio is 80:20.

    Secondly, the Chinese have introduced a new method of paying for projects "use what you have to get what you want". For example, the Bui dam will be paid for from the proceeds from the export of Cocoa over a 30 year period.

    Not all Chinese projects are funded this way, but this method makes it easier for poorer nations to access Chinese infrastructure funding.

    (I know the Soviets used a similar method; sugar for industrial goods and the Japanese applied the same principle in dealing with the Chinese, but the West almost never does this sort of thing).

    You know the West told us that the Chinese are these evil creatures. We believed the West, until the Chinese started living among us and started getting married to our daughters and sisters.

    I have Chinese neighbours.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 02-14-2012 at 04:40 PM. Reason: Correction made as per author's request

  9. #69
    Council Member Dayuhan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Latitude 17° 5' 11N, Longitude 120° 54' 24E, altitude 1499m. Right where I want to be.
    Posts
    3,137

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
    That isn't actually true. The ratio of African to Chinese workers for newly arrived Chinese companies is usually 50:50. For more established companies the ratio is 80:20.
    That would be unthinkable on a Chinese-funded project anywhere in Asia. The Chinese have funded projects here; of course the contracts go to Chinese companies but they can't import labor... as in none, zero. Management and technical people only.

    Is there such a severe shortage of skilled labor in Nigeria that the Chinese have to import their own workers?

    Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
    Secondly, the Chinese have introduced a new method of paying for projects "use what you have to get what you want". For example, the Bui dam will be paid for from the proceeds from the export of Cocoa over a 30 year period.
    Is there a commitment to buy at prevailing market price, or at pre-determined prices? These deals have been done before, and they haven't always turned out well for the recipient country. It feels good when the project is being built with no cash outlay, but 15 years down the line, when a whole bunch of cocoa is being shipped out and no money is coming in... who pays the farmers producing the cocoa? The government? Where does the government get the money? What happens then, especially if nobody bothers to protect the upstream watersheds and the dam silts up and turns into a giant mud puddle?

    Obviously that's a worst-case scenario, but they have come to pass. Just pointing out that these ideas are not new or unique, and they haven't always worked out well in the past... 20 years from now we'll look back on these projects an some will have worked, some will have kinda sorta partly worked, and some will be absolute disasters... par for the course on big projects, but even the disasters end up being paid for.

    Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
    Not all Chinese projects are funded this way, but this method makes it easier for poorer nations to access Chinese infrastructure funding.
    Buy now and pay later always seems like a good deal when you're poor... it seems like a good deal now, that is. Doesn't always seem a good deal later.

    Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
    You know the West told us that the Chinese are these evil creatures. We believed the West, until the Chinese started living among us and started getting married to our daughters and sisters.
    Who said that, and when? I've heard a chorus of how evil the west is over the last 40 years, much of it from westerners.

    I wouldn't say the Chinese are evil, but they are, like the west, out for their own interests and they will skin you if you let them. That's true of the west as well, and anyone else you do business with. No free lunches or nice guys out there, never were.
    “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”

    H.L. Mencken

  10. #70
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    That would be unthinkable on a Chinese-funded project anywhere in Asia. The Chinese have funded projects here; of course the contracts go to Chinese companies but they can't import labor... as in none, zero. Management and technical people only.

    Is there such a severe shortage of skilled labor in Nigeria that the Chinese have to import their own workers?
    I meant 80:20 Africans to Chinese. Sorry for the slip up.

  11. #71
    Council Member Dayuhan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Latitude 17° 5' 11N, Longitude 120° 54' 24E, altitude 1499m. Right where I want to be.
    Posts
    3,137

    Default

    I was thinking of the 50:50... hard to see how the local labor force wouldn't be up in arms at that, but I guess things are different in different places.
    “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”

    H.L. Mencken

  12. #72
    Council Member Dayuhan's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Latitude 17° 5' 11N, Longitude 120° 54' 24E, altitude 1499m. Right where I want to be.
    Posts
    3,137

    Default

    I've just been looking over some data on the Chinese construction industry collapse, and the signs aren't pretty... steel and cement manufacturers slashing output (China produces 44% of the world's steel and 60% of the world's cement) because user inventories are so high there's no place left to store the stuff, China-bound timber piling up on the docks in Vancouver for the same reason.

    The backlogs are running up any number of supply chains... equipment makers are sitting on thousands of units they can't sell, complaining that local governments aren't budgeting for infrastructure. The reason is that for the last decade China's local governments have supported their budgets by land sales to developers, often sweetheart deals where developers borrow from banks to buy land from local governments, and the developers, the bankers and the local governments are very closely connected. Those deals are no longer happening, developers are sitting on hundreds of thousands of units that can't be sold and banks are sitting on billions in loans that can't be paid.

    China’s automotive inventory stood at about 4 million units at the end of 2011; 2 million to 2.5 million units is normal. People aren't spending like they used to.

    A lot of people wondered why China's economy, seen as largely export-based, was not severely impacted by the downturn in the markets it exports to. It's increasingly clear that this was because China's economy and growth have become increasingly dependent on local industries that are every bit as speculative as the real estate industry in Phoenix, Miami, or Dubai was in 2006.

    So how does all that impact China's relations with Africa, and with others? Less resource demand, certainly. Possibly large inventories of basic materials that may be dumped onto other markets, potentially to the detriment of domestic industries in those countries. Also possible that the Chinese will have a large labor force that suddenly needs work, and thus may increase attempts to export labor.

    It will be very interesting to see how Chinese engagement in Africa and elsewhere is affected as reality catches up with the domestic economy.
    “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”

    H.L. Mencken

  13. #73
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    Dayuhan,

    If I was an Australian, i'd be worried - most of the iron ore comes from Australia. (China has enough limestone, and cement is a very heavy product, difficult to transport anyway).

    I am African and I don't see how this is a bad thing. Chinese investment in copper and other minerals in Africa today (e.g. Congo DRC) is not driven by market conditions today but a long term assessment of demand trends. Demand for oil is still high.

    Finally, if China has excess supply of technical expertise in construction, it is a match made in heaven - look forward to smart African governments pushing for good deals on construction. (The Ghanaian government already has done so and others are going to join shortly).

  14. #74
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    Also need to add that a lot of the growth and a lot of Chinese investment in Africa is based on an assessment of the internal domestic market.

    Africa has a gdp of about $1 trillion, that may not be much by Western standards, but it is still significantly more than it was when the IMF/World Bank consensus was dominant.

    Walmart is here and so is GE, they are not stupid.

  15. #75
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default Nigeria: FG in China, Seeks U.S.$3 Billion for Agric, Rail, Airport Projects

    This is very significant. Traditionally, Nigeria obtained financing from the West, the push towards the East may be the sign of things to come...

    Beijing — The Federal Government is currently discussing with the Chinese government and its agencies with a view to securing about $3 billion (N480 billion) to complete on-going 'priority projects' across the country.

    The $3 billion credit from China, according to the government, was part of the $7.9 billion loan proposal President Goodluck Jonathan took to the National Assembly for approval.

    Jonathan had, last week, asked the legislature to approve $7.9 billion credit, proposed to be sourced from the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Bank, China and India.

    The proposal, he stated, was part of government's medium-term external borrowing plan for the next three years (2012-2014).

    The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in Beijing, China, after the first day of the meeting of a high-powered Nigerian delegation with the Chinese government and investors, that it was necessary to seek the $3 billion credit line to "complete some people-oriented projects".

    Okonjo-Iweala explained that the approach of sourcing this particular credit was a clear departure from the past, when most of the projects were not determined by the federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) but the Chinese, who negotiated the credits at varied interest rates - mostly unfavourable to Nigeria.

    The government, she noted, had now adopted "systematisation" of negotiation for the credits - for priority projects and at beneficial interest rates - rather than leaving it to the whims and caprices of the Chinese companies and agencies.

    "Right now, we have noticed a phenomenon where a lot of Chinese companies come to different ministries and agencies with particular projects they are interested in and then when the MDAs say yes, they sometimes go and help negotiate the credit. But we want to change this because this approach does not always take into account our priorities. When I say systematisation, it means that we outline what our priorities are and we try to negotiate the same beneficial rate for all our projects so that we have a systematic approach," she said.

    The high-powered delegation led by Okonjo-Iweala included the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda; Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe; Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah; Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar; Minister of State for Works, Alhaji Bashir Yugudu; Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye; and Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe.

    Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that the $3 billion proposed credit line included $500 million financing for four new terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and $500 million to complete the Abuja light rail projects.

    She added that another $500 million meant for agriculture and $171 million for the completion of Bauchi independent power plant project as well as $100 million to complete Galaxy backbone project, were also included in the Chinese facility.

    The finance minister assured them that the credit, which was being sought at not more than 3 per cent concessionary interest rate, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRC), was still within the debt-to-GDP ratio of about 20 per cent.
    http://allafrica.com/stories/201202220327.html

  16. #76
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Fiddling?

    KingJaja,

    This announced finance package, ostensibly 'people orientated projects', appears to be akin to "fiddling while Rome burns". With spending on a light rail project for the national capital and four (airport) terminals as BH meander around causing mayhem.

    Secondly I am sure, not confident, that in another thread on Nigeria there was an item that oil refining in Nigeria was a big issue, with refineries either not working or working way below capacity. So why not fix those?

    If you could clarify whether this "fiddling" is an accurate observation I'd be obliged.
    davidbfpo

  17. #77
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default

    Not exactly fiddling.

    A quarter of the budget already goes to security, contracts have been awarded to repair existing refineries, a petroleum industry bill which should open up the petroleum sector to more competition is likely to be passed and reforms in the power sector are on track.

    In all fairness, this administration is better intentioned than most administrations before it. The outcomes remain to be seen.

  18. #78
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default Africa talking to Beijing: Ethiopia

    One of the great things about a discussion board like this is that it helps dispel stereotypes, gut feelings or assumptions.

    A piece by an experienced China watcher about the Chinese in Ethiopia. Note the role of the Chinese in providing technical training - a common accusation in the Western media is that they do nothing of that sort.

    Tough governments are able to get the most out of the rise in emerging-market interest in Africa. Here is one example of countries trying to get beyond the 'win-win' rhetoric in engagements with their Chinese partners. In Ethiopia Addis Ababa holds the reigns.

    During his August 2011 trip to China, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi visited the Pearl River Delta, where higher production costs are driving manufacturers offshore.

    He invited his Chinese hosts to visit Ethiopia. Among other things, he wanted them to look at a leather-based industrial cluster Ethiopia is developing to better utilise its live stock population, Africa's largest.

    Within weeks, a delegation of Chinese businessmen had arrived in Addis Ababa. Among them were representatives of the privately owned Huajian Group that produces 16m pairs of leather shoes per year. By October, Huajian had decided to invest.

    Huajian's general manager arrived in November, hired 50 Ethiopian technical school graduates and sent them off to China for training.

    Huajian is leasing a factory site in Ethiopia's Eastern (Oriental) Industrial Zone, Hagos Sequar, an Ethiopian industry ministry official told The Africa Report.

    "The machinery is already on its way to Djibouti," he added. Ethiopia, at the end of 2011, reflects the surprising complexity of Chinese engagement in Africa, how it differs from that of the West and – possibly of more significance to the continent –how central the role of African agency is.

    China is no newcomer here. In 1972, China financed the Wereta-Weldiya road across Ethiopia's Rift Valley. Between 1998 and 2004, the Chinese contributed 15 per cent of the cost of Addis Ababa's ring road, while Ethiopia paid the rest.

    But [LINK=/index.php/2012020950181252/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-predicts-11-per-cent-economic-growth-for-2012-50181252.html]when Ethiopia's economy began to grow at Asian rates[/LINK], Chinese investors saw increased opportunities. Not all were in the direction stereotypes would have predicted.

    Yes, China's state-owned petroleum companies explored for oil but often as contractors for Ethiopian companies. The Chinese government also unleashed a variety of state-sponsored tools for building economic ties.

    Most of these do not involve China's relatively modest foreign aid. The China-Africa Development Fund has made equity investments in a leather factory, a cement plant and a glass factory.

    The Eastern Industrial Zone is being built and run by a private Chinese company, with performance-based subsidies from China's economic cooperation fund.

    Chinese telecoms firm ZTE teamed up with Chinese banks to provide a $1.5bn commercial suppliers' credit (at the London Interbank Offered Rate \[LIBOR]plus 1.5 per cent) to roll out cellular and 3G service across the country.

    A preferential export buyer's credit is paying more than half of the $612m cost of a toll road between[LINK=/index.php/2011121950177848/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-china-in-railway-deal-50177848.html] Addis Ababa[/LINK] [LINK=/index.php/2011122750178190/east-horn-africa/ethiopian-capital-to-get-railway-line-50178190.html]and Djibouti[/LINK].

    The tolls will help repay the loan over 20 years. In a twist on a financing mode popularised in Angola, where infrastructure loans were repaid with Angola's main export, oil, China's Export-Import Bank has provided commercial loans for electricity distribution lines, cement factories and other projects, secured (and repaid) by Ethiopia's exports to China, mainly sesame seeds.

    These credits are known as hu hui dai kuan or mutual benefit loans. A Chinese company gets the business, Ethiopia gets finance for development at LIBOR plus 2-3 per cent.

    Of course, there are downsides. Chinese banks continue to show interest in financing large hydro-power projects with daunting environmental and social challenges.

    Reportedly, working conditions were so onerous at the enormous African Union complex built by a Chinese firm that some Chinese workers went on strike.

    Ethiopians also complain about the quality of ZTE's technology. At the same time, observers sometimes accuse China of sins it has yet to commit.

    In July, Günter Nooke, German chancellor AngelaMerkel's Africa adviser, said that in Ethiopia China's "large-scale land purchases" were partly to blame for a devastating famine.

    The California-based Oakland Institute had reported just a month earlier, after an exhaustive four-month [LINK=/index.php/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-sells-swathes-of-land-to-foreigners-50180750.html]'land grab'[/LINK] study, that Chinese investors were "surprisingly absent from land investment deals" in Ethiopia.


    Ethiopia is clearly in charge in this engagement. Chinese traders and shop keepers, who are fixtures across many African cities, are absent on Ethiopia's streets.

    These positions are reserved for locals and the Ethiopian government enforces the rules. And China listens. A decade ago, Chinese companies building the ring road complained they could not find enough local skilled workers.

    The Ethiopian government asked China to establish a college that would focus on construction and industrial skills. The fully equipped Ethio-China Polytechnic College opened in late 2009, funded by Chinese aid.

    Chinese professors offer a two-year degree with Chinese language classes alongside engineering modules. Chinese companies are waiting to hire its first crop of graduates.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 02-28-2012 at 02:06 PM. Reason: PM to author for source citation and clarity around the links buried within.

  19. #79
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default One reason why the Chinese are so popular in Africa

    Watch this Al Jazeera documentary about Congo and their bad roads. Square it with the West's reluctance to invest in or even support infrastructure projects in Africa for the past twenty-five years (humanitarian aid leads to better photo-ops than road construction).

    http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...240594854.html

    It helps you understand why the recent Chinese offer to provide infrastructure to the DRC is popular there regardless of the politics, the history or even the terms (which the Western media tends to focus on). The average Congolese doesn't want to hack his way through jungle to transport his load of palm oil. All he wants is a f**king road - and if the Chinese are the only ones ready to construct the road - well and good.

    The Congolese truck driver doesn't want to be assailed with PowerPoint graphics, Excel charts or useless reports he wants a f**king road. He doesn't want to be told stories about how roads constructed by the Belgians and under Mobutu have disintegrated, he wants a f**king road and he wants it now!

    Building a road is a better course of action than all the "capacity building" driven western aid.

    (Roads are bad in Nigeria, but not this bad! . A month to travel 650 miles?)

  20. #80
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    789

    Default PAN Nigeria plans diversification into Chinese brand

    PAN stands for Peugeot Automobile Nigeria. They used to assemble 504s (If you haven't driven in a 504, 505 or a 404 you haven't lived in Africa!). Well they are no longer doing the Peugeot thing they are going Chinese - I guess they are following in the footsteps of Innoson.

    PAN Nigeria Limited, owner of Peugeot nameplate in Nigeria, is set to return and reassert its position as one-time most sought-after brand and the country’s leading automobile manufacturer having concluded plans to diversify its brand portfolio which will see to the mass production of the ALSVIN model, a brand of the Chongqing Changan Automobile China.

    This fresh move is coming on the hills of a Technical Agreement signed between PAN Nigeria Limited and Changan Automotive Manufacturing Company, brand owners of the ALSVIN, a B and M1 segments car. The brand comes with three distinguishing attributes: European design, strong Chinese elements of production and time honoured amenability to the Nigerian terrain.

    Recall that the Chairman, Board of Directors of PAN Nigeria Limited, Sani Dauda led top management of the company to China for the historical event in October last year. During an inspection tour of the first set of the Nigerian produced ALSVIN to ascertain the overall readiness of the company, the chairman said PAN will initially produce about 3000 units of the ALSVIN from its Kaduna plant in 2012 with production target expected to increase annually.

    To this end, PAN has completed a full scale installation of the factory lines for the production of the ALSVIN – which comes with an engine capacity of 1.5 litres. According to the Managing Director of PAN Nigeria Limited, Shehu Dauda the decision to diversify into a multi-brand is market-driven as it is hinged on the need to produce affordable vehicles within the reach of the middle class in the country.

    “We have achieved test production of the ALSVIN. We have also exhaustively conducted road test of our production to assess quality and durability which signify our reputation. The results were very favorable as the ALSVIN proved to be very suitable for Nigerian roads,” said the company’s chief.
    http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/...chinese-brand-

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •