Walvis Bay in Namibia has become the focus of an aquaculture and fisheries project headed by one of China’s largest construction firms.
China Harbour Engineering Co (CHFC) is working on a USD 700 million (EUR 593 million) project that will widen and deepen the Namibian harbor and aims to ship back seafood from Namibia to China, according to senior executives who spoke to the 21st Century Economic Observer, a leading Chinese business newspaper.
The international community’s efforts to industrialize Africa “have not been successful,” company representative Feng Yuanfei told the newspaper. “The business needs to be oriented to market and generate profit. Therefore we focus on fish, aquaculture, and fish processing.”
The main project will see CHEC double the handling capacity of the Walvis Bay port in order to allow it handle minerals from surrounding African countries. The 21st Century Economic Observer interviews also featured comments from a CHEC executive in Cameroon who criticized the small scale of French aid projects in the country compared to the scale and efficiency of profit-oriented Chinese projects.
