Ivory Coast Creates Task Force to Monitor China-Backed Projects
Ivory Coast Creates Task Force to Monitor China-Backed Projects
(Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast will create a panel to monitor the execution of close to $6 billion of projects in the West African nation, according a government spokesman.
While the country and its continental peers are benefiting from Beijing-backed investment for the provision of much-need infrastructure, China’s growing influence has also generated complaints about its preference for loans and the use of its own nationals to work on the projects.
Bilateral agreements between Ivory Coast and China include the financing of 14 projects, of which the average level of completion is 43 percent, government spokesman Sidi Toure told reporters Wednesday in the commercial capital, Abidjan. The programs include the extension of the city’s port to the construction of an industrial park.
The monitoring committee will include Chinese and Ivorian delegates and will seek to accelerate the programs’ execution and financing, Toure said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan at bmieu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff
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