China's BRI projects face pushback in Africa from environmentalists and civil society groups

Several China-backed projects in Africa under the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative are facing backlash from local environment and civil society groups.

Uganda and Tanzania last week gave the go-ahead for the construction of an oil pipeline between the two countries, even as environmentalists demanded for it to be scrapped, according to a report in the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP).
State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp is a major investor in the project and the oilfield it serves. According to SCMP the Green groups, including BankTrack, the Africa Institute for Energy Governance and 350 Africa, have said that both the “extraction sites and the pipeline pose environmental and social risks to protected wildlife areas, water sources and communities throughout Uganda and Tanzania”. The 1,445km pipeline is meant to carry heated crude oil from Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.

Activists and environmentalists in Africa allege that BRI projects are adversely impacting ecosystems in the continent.

In Guinea, China plans to invest in a massive deposit of high-grade iron ore in the Simandou mountains. The project would help Beijing to reduce its dependence on Australian imports amid tensions with Canberra but critics say it will also destroy livelihoods, according to the SCMP report.

In Ghana, a $2 billion bauxite-for-infrastructure deal with Chinese state-owned firm Sinohydro Corp has drawn ire. In 2019, a court in Kenya ordered a halt to the construction of a $2 billion coal-fired power plant after critics alleged that it would endanger a Unesco World Heritage Site.

In the not so distant past Tanzanian authorities opposed Chinese demand of fully handing-over the Bagamoyo Port to China, after Sri Lankan experience with Hambantota, according to a report in ‘Inside Over’ a prominent Italy based current affairs portal.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s recent decision to open its telecoms market saw a Chinese-backed bid for a mobile licence lose out to a consortium that had US support, according to a SCMP report.

A consortium backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation and UK sovereign investment fund CDC Group and led by Britain’s Vodafone, Kenya’s Safaricom, South Africa’s Vodacom and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation won the deal after bidding US$850 million to secure a 15-year licence in Africa’s second biggest country.