Africa: Made in China

The Chinese money and manpower behind the continent's building boom.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | MARCH 19, 2012

THE "MEGA MOSQUE"

Country: Algeria

Cost: $1.3 billion

In February, the government of Algeria signed a contract with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to build what will be the third-largest mosque in the world and the largest outside Saudi Arabia. The facility -- which will be stretched across a 49 acre compound, boast a 900-foot-tall minaret, and have room for 120,000 worshippers -- is a means for Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to "leave his mark," according to the country's religious affairs minister. The state-controlled CSCEC, though one of the leading firms in Africa's construction boom, was banned in 2009 from bidding for World Bank financed projects because of a corruption scandal in the Philippines.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images; skyscrapercity.com; designboom.com; europarl.europa.eu; area254.com

 SUBJECTS:
 

BETALOVER

1:27 PM ET

March 20, 2012

Corrupt official pocket dams and highway

I am not ruling out headline news from Western media stating that corrupt African officials put dams and highway into their pockets.

Not too remote is "Chinese religious idiosyncrasy“

 

MARIANELA DEVORA

8:48 PM ET

April 17, 2012

Chinese money and manpower

I think that, China does not call on anyone to be sent to The Hague – it is not a signatory to the ICC treaty,” Mr. Lwakabwanga wrote. “Nor does it call on African nations to respect international conventions on corporate contracts, rights for workers, defend free speech or hold free and fair elections. So many African nations now have a choice: Why listen to the West, with its rules and regulations and demands, if you don’t have to