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Two years after Kenya’s deal with India’s Adani Group to modernise Jomo Kenyatta International Airport collapsed, the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has won a US$1.2 billion contract to do just that.
The same pattern played out when France’s Vinci lost a major highway deal in Kenya and CRBC took over as developer alongside another Chinese firm. Under the original 30-year concession, the national government would bear all the risk in the deal, raising public cost concerns.
These two takeovers underscore China’s deepening infrastructure footprint in Africa. CRBC has been awarded US$9.3 billion worth of Kenyan infrastructure contracts, according to local media.
Aly-Khan Satchu, a Nairobi-based analyst on sub-Saharan African geoeconomics, said that China offered a “full suite” package that included financing, construction and often operation.
China’s advantage stemmed from flexible financing and lower costs, he explained.
“Western companies are simply not competitive,” Satchu said, noting that Western firms had “very elevated” prices due to the risks of doing business in Africa.
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