Paper short abstract:

At the example of Angola, Ethiopia and Nigeria, this paper investigates the extent to which Chinese Overseas Construction projects can be a springboard for industrialisation by spurring demand for building materials like cement.

Paper long abstract:

This paper looks at Chinese construction projects in Angola, Nigeria and Ethiopia – the three countries registering the highest average annual value of construction projects completed by Chinese firms in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2018. Chinese overseas construction projects received disproportionately little research attention compared to Chinese outward FDI, even though they are much more important in terms of magnitude. This paper firstly shows that Chinese overseas construction projects have been an important catalyst for structural transformation. Beyond providing critical infrastructure for productive sector activities, the China-induced construction boom has spurred demand for and induced domestic manufacturing of building materials, including but not limited to cement. Building materials manufacturing has been promoted by different types of industrial policy, which are briefly compared. With a focus on cement manufacturing, the paper secondly shows that emerging capitalist interests in building materials manufacturing are shaped by and have (re)shaped domestic political economy dynamics. These (reconfigured) domestic power relationships determine the nature of the ensuing accumulation processes and their dysfunctionalities. In Angola new business opportunities linked to the construction boom served to consolidate wealth and power of the ruling elite. Nigeria has seen the emergence of large-scale monopoly capitalists – Dangote and BUA – whose roots go back to the colonial merchant capitalist class and whose contemporary political influence is significant and growing. Ethiopia’s cement sector is dominated by a state-owned firm, a firm linked to the TPLF, the dominant party within the former ruling EPRDF coalition and several joint ventures between Ethiopian and Chinese firms.