No Result
View All Result
Friday, June 9, 2023
Citi Business News
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Agriculture
    • Economy
    • General
    • Government
    • Local Economy
    • Top Stories

    Govt aims to transform fishing industry with new aquaculture centre

    Maiden Ghana Automotive Summit set for June 27

    Govt issues one-month ultimatum for merchant subscribers to register SIMs

    Govt committed to prioritizing gender mainstreaming in energy policies – Herbert Krapa

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Go digital to increase customer reach – Businesses told

    GRA apprehends shop owners at Achimota for tax infractions

    Telcos, BoG to collaborate to retrieve locked funds on MoMo accounts – Ursula

    Unlock the full potential of mining, energy sectors for domestic industrialization – Abu Jinapor

    Update your records or have your names expunged – ORC tells businesses

  • Business
    • All
    • Agribusiness
    • Banking And Finance
    • Manufacturing
    • Markets
    • Mining
    • Oil And Gas
    • Real Estate
    • Tourism
    • Transport

    Telcos, BoG to collaborate to retrieve locked funds on MoMo accounts – Ursula

    Update your records or have your names expunged – ORC tells businesses

    Ghana is the best destination for investment in West Africa – Bawumia

    African leaders urged to push for electronic cars over combustible automobiles 

    Modify old trade conventions to favor local printing firms – AGI tells govt

    Publish gold-for-oil policy document to improve transparency – Dr. Manteaw

    Re-consider computation of VAT for local industries- AGI tells govt

    IMF proposes acquisition, mergers of banks to mitigate financial sector instability

    Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire partner to tackle cocoa smuggling

  • TECHNOLOGY

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Go digital to increase customer reach – Businesses told

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Trust ecosystem needed to minimize e-commerce fraud – Benedict Bentil

    Citi Business Festival: Forum on Digital Economy comes off today

    Citi Business Festival: 8 pillars of digital economy by TechGulf’s CEO

    Cyber Security Authority mandate critical to country’s development – Joseph Cudjoe

    MTN shareholders given choice to convert dividend or take cash

    Ghana gets $300 million from US to build first-of-its-kind data center

    Telcoms industry players urged to partner government to promote clean energy transition

    Dominion University To Partner With USA Organisations To Set Up Centre Of Excellence For Artificial Intelligence

  • INTERNATIONAL
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • US

    WTO Chief urges African governments to increase trade, agric investment

    Mining propels Ghana to beat growth estimates in fourth quarter

    BoG pushes for improvement in IMF’s lending framework to boost continent’s access to resources

    Foreign exchange: Several African countries have a shortage of US dollars – why this happens and how to fix it

    Ghana and South Africa urged to leverage on AfCFTA to boost bi – lateral relations

    Silicon Valley Bank crisis: What led to stock crash, what lies ahead?

    Medical devices market projected to expand by $ 7.1 billion by close of year

    African Union adopts Africa Prosperity Dialogues AfCFTA action plan

    Third World Network Africa urges Africans to be strategic about AfCFTA

  • FEATURES
  • Videos
Citi Business News
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Agriculture
    • Economy
    • General
    • Government
    • Local Economy
    • Top Stories

    Govt aims to transform fishing industry with new aquaculture centre

    Maiden Ghana Automotive Summit set for June 27

    Govt issues one-month ultimatum for merchant subscribers to register SIMs

    Govt committed to prioritizing gender mainstreaming in energy policies – Herbert Krapa

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Go digital to increase customer reach – Businesses told

    GRA apprehends shop owners at Achimota for tax infractions

    Telcos, BoG to collaborate to retrieve locked funds on MoMo accounts – Ursula

    Unlock the full potential of mining, energy sectors for domestic industrialization – Abu Jinapor

    Update your records or have your names expunged – ORC tells businesses

  • Business
    • All
    • Agribusiness
    • Banking And Finance
    • Manufacturing
    • Markets
    • Mining
    • Oil And Gas
    • Real Estate
    • Tourism
    • Transport

    Telcos, BoG to collaborate to retrieve locked funds on MoMo accounts – Ursula

    Update your records or have your names expunged – ORC tells businesses

    Ghana is the best destination for investment in West Africa – Bawumia

    African leaders urged to push for electronic cars over combustible automobiles 

    Modify old trade conventions to favor local printing firms – AGI tells govt

    Publish gold-for-oil policy document to improve transparency – Dr. Manteaw

    Re-consider computation of VAT for local industries- AGI tells govt

    IMF proposes acquisition, mergers of banks to mitigate financial sector instability

    Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire partner to tackle cocoa smuggling

  • TECHNOLOGY

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Go digital to increase customer reach – Businesses told

    #CitiBusinessFestival: Trust ecosystem needed to minimize e-commerce fraud – Benedict Bentil

    Citi Business Festival: Forum on Digital Economy comes off today

    Citi Business Festival: 8 pillars of digital economy by TechGulf’s CEO

    Cyber Security Authority mandate critical to country’s development – Joseph Cudjoe

    MTN shareholders given choice to convert dividend or take cash

    Ghana gets $300 million from US to build first-of-its-kind data center

    Telcoms industry players urged to partner government to promote clean energy transition

    Dominion University To Partner With USA Organisations To Set Up Centre Of Excellence For Artificial Intelligence

  • INTERNATIONAL
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • US

    WTO Chief urges African governments to increase trade, agric investment

    Mining propels Ghana to beat growth estimates in fourth quarter

    BoG pushes for improvement in IMF’s lending framework to boost continent’s access to resources

    Foreign exchange: Several African countries have a shortage of US dollars – why this happens and how to fix it

    Ghana and South Africa urged to leverage on AfCFTA to boost bi – lateral relations

    Silicon Valley Bank crisis: What led to stock crash, what lies ahead?

    Medical devices market projected to expand by $ 7.1 billion by close of year

    African Union adopts Africa Prosperity Dialogues AfCFTA action plan

    Third World Network Africa urges Africans to be strategic about AfCFTA

  • FEATURES
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citi Business News
No Result
View All Result

How China contractors drove Kenyan firms out of mega projects

bycitibusinessnews
January 26, 2017
in Africa, East Africa
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

Big Kenyan contractors are feeling the heat of competition from deep-pocketed Chinese rivals whose superior machinery and lower bids for lucrative State tenders have driven local firms out of business.

Kundan Singh, Spencon Holdings and Mugoya Construction are some of the erstwhile big names that have fallen on hard times due to the Chinese invasion, ending up under receivership with hundreds of job losses and billions of shillings worth of bad debts.

The growing dominance of Chinese firms including Sinohydro Corporation Limited, China Wu Yi and China Roads and Bridges Construction Company can be traced back to then President Mwai Kibaki’s policy shift to the Asian giant nearly a decade and a half ago.

The shift opened aid taps for construction of roads and upgrade of airports, but it also came with strings attached, with State agencies required to only contract Chinese firms for Chinese-funded projects.

Many local contractors such as Kirinyaga Construction Company, which thrived under former president Daniel Moi’s regime, are now confined to undertaking small projects in rural areas.

Others like H Young and Intex Construction have since resorted to forming consortia with European and Indian conglomerates when bidding for government tenders, where Chinese firms enjoy pre-qualification status tied to the funding of the projects.

“It’s an open field for Chinese contractors whose key advantage is lower bids,” said Jason Schwartzman, the chief executive of H Young.

“Kenyan firms find it hard to compete. Some have folded up and others have cut back their operations.”

Massive resources

China’s allure has been its detachment from local politics and its massive resources that allows it to finance mega projects built by its multinationals, with Kenya repaying the loans over lengthy periods.

Hamstrung by relatively lower economies of scale and lack of cheap financing, Kenyan firms have suffered at the hands of China’s export finance policy, which extends cheap to state-owned contractors.

The fall of Spencon, which was placed under administration last month, is illustrative of the rapidly changing landscape in Kenya’s construction industry.

“The company’s performance peaked in 2007 when it recorded revenues of $100 million (Sh10.3 billion),” says a status report on Spencon by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) seen by the Business Daily.

–

Credit: Business Daily

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

Top Stories

WTO Chief urges African governments to increase trade, agric investment

bycitibusinessnews

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on African countries to create trading opportunities...

Read more

BoG pushes for improvement in IMF’s lending framework to boost continent’s access to resources

Ghana and South Africa urged to leverage on AfCFTA to boost bi – lateral relations

Medical devices market projected to expand by $ 7.1 billion by close of year

African Union adopts Africa Prosperity Dialogues AfCFTA action plan

Third World Network Africa urges Africans to be strategic about AfCFTA

$130bn and $170bn needed annually to bridge Africa’s infrastructural gap – Bawumia

Next Post

Cedi depreciation: BoG defends 120 million dollars auction

Video on Demand: Business Weekly

ADVERTISEMENT
Citi Business News

© 2023 Citi Business News - CitiBusinessNews.com by CNR Digital.

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • INTERNATIONAL
  • FEATURES
  • Videos

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • INTERNATIONAL
  • FEATURES
  • Videos

© 2023 Citi Business News - CitiBusinessNews.com by CNR Digital.