Edited: XiaXue
“Well. I saw it when I got off the plane. The infrastructure here is too weak. We have started to build smart roads in China. The coverage of ordinary roads is very low here.” Guo Chu said with the same feeling, “But it also shows that the market here is very promising.”
“But the business is not good!” Bai Tongxi took him to temporary residential area and said: “In the past few months, we have had too many troubles. And it was never before in China.”
“Now it is even worse to the point that the project progress has completely stopped and cannot continue! If this is the case, I think our group will leave Nigeria”
“So serious?” Guo Chu frowned.
“This is not serious. The serious thing is that not only is the bamboo basket empty, but also a blood loss!” Bai Tongxi said this, the tone is somewhat resentful.
Zhongnan Construction Group has just entered African market last year, starting with infrastructure in an area of Kaduna State in Nigeria. The project includes a long-distance road, a mid-transport railway and some urban areas.
Since last year, they have begun to transport workers and construction machinery to Nigeria and have started construction work locally. It can be more than nine months, and their progress has not yet reached one-third of what was originally envisaged, but the expenditure has been more than three times the budget!
“The construction conditions here are so poor that I have never seen them in the last half of my life!” Bai Tongxi complained. “The government management here is extremely chaotic. Just running various procedures and managing all aspects, it wastes us a lot of effort.”
“Even so, our safe construction conditions are not guaranteed. There are often robbers and thieves who are staring at us and stealing. Last month, three workers were injured. One worker almost died and is now sent back to the country for recuperation. Workers mood is not very good, many workers are asking to return to China.”
“There are also our construction machinery. Once several large machinery were robbed by gunmen, and the loss amounted to tens of millions!”
Bai Tongxi is a bitter stomach. After staying in the peaceful China for a long time, he feels uncomfortable here.
Although Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, security management is very bad. Because of poverty, tribes, beliefs, etc., armed conflicts occur from time to time in many places.
As for the crime of robbery and extortion, it happens almost every day. In the eyes of criminals here, foreigners are “rich people” and are more likely to be their targets.
These days, the people of of Zhongnan Construction Group have not suffered much.
In order to integrate here, they also specially trained local people to be bodyguards and laborers. Unfortunately, these people have limited roles. Those local workers almost came here to eat, work hard, paddling water, and run away when they are in danger. It is still the group that pits them.
Bai Tongxi took Guo Chu to see on the construction site. They were sitting on a modified off-road vehicle. The doors and windows were bullet-proof. There were also bodyguards with guns on the car. This makes Guo Chu really feel that it is indeed dangerous to travel here.
They went to see a railway that was built to transport mineral resources. In the vicinity, there is a huge iron mine, which is also mined by a Chinese company.
The small section in front of the railway is okay, it has been built, and workers are responsible for inspection and maintenance every day. When it was interrupted, the construction stopped here, and no workers started.
When Guo Chu and others arrived, they discovered a few black people stealing things at the construction site. The black bodyguards in the car immediately got out of the car and yelled at them with guns. Those people ran away in a hurry.
“These blacks are poor people in nearby villages or tribes, often stealing things.” Bai Tongxi said in a helpless and sad tone. “It doesn’t work for us to call the police. They can’t manage them and can’t help us. If we hurt them, they found a lot of people in the tribe who came to us to make trouble”
“One time we injured a few thieves, but we lost tens of thousands of dollars. Do you think there is such a reason in the world?”
“It really doesn’t make sense.” Guo Chu patted him on the shoulder and said, “It’s hard for you.”
Bai Tongxi continued: “The project here has stopped. It is because of the recent robbery and wounding incident. Some workers are not willing to work here. Our excavators and cranes have also taken away. Need to be redeployed.”
“Moreover, safety cannot be guaranteed, and we are not easy to start construction.”
Guo Chu asked: “How do other people do it? Those other Chinese companies.”
“Not all places are so chaotic.” Bai Tongxi said, “Some places have good policing. Some enterprises have hired their own security teams. As long as they do not encounter large-scale armed conflicts, there is basically no problem.”
“We also tried to do this and found that it didn’t work at all. I was afraid that someone deliberately made trouble. When we first came last year, one of the local black bodyguards we hired died!”
“This project is too difficult to do! The domestic situation is so good, sometimes I want to go back to the country.”
Guo Chu knows that Bai Tongxi is under too much pressure during this time. He comforted: “Is this not to help you? No matter how difficult it is, we must finish this project. We have invested so much, and giving up halfway is a huge loss!”
“Furthermore, this is what we have accumulated experience for projects in Africa. As a whole, Africa, with such a large market, it would be a pity to give up like this..”
“It is necessary to re-transfer workers from China and transfer machinery.” Bai Tongxi only complained a little, and did not think of giving up.
“I am afraid that we will encounter the previous situation again.”
“You don’t have to worry about this. We just ordered a batch of new equipment from Pengyun Machinery. When the order arrives, I will directly transfer it here. I guarantee you will be surprised! The problem of labor shortage should be solved easily.” Guo Chu Said, “You just said that someone might deliberately making trouble, what is the situation?”
“There is a Gora tribe in the vicinity, and the strength is relatively strong. Their chiefs are also overbearing. We are building nearby, and we have to give them ‘benefits’. But their chiefs are too greedy, and we don’t give enough. He once hinted that he would threaten to create chaos for us. I suspect he was the one responsible for it.” Bai Tongxi explained.
Guo Chu knows him, Bai Tongxi has always been conservative, he has some doubts, it is almost certain. This problem is really difficult to solve.
Nigeria is not a truly modern country. There are many tribes in the country. In some areas, tribal chiefs have considerable power and even have their own armed forces. It is not uncommon for armed conflicts between tribes.
Even if the local government allowed them to build here, the nearby chiefs would find trouble for them, they could do nothing.
[Previous] [ToC] [Next]