A patch of Red Sea Gobi was meant to lure factories away from the Suez Canal’s shadow. Two decades on it hosts nearly 200 firms – and a set of questions about who the industrialisation is really for.
Section
Property
Dukem’s Wager: What One Chinese Industrial Zone Taught Ethiopia About Factories
A private Chinese developer bet US$180 million on a field outside Addis Ababa in 2007. What grew there became a test of whether Africa can host the factory floor.
Generate, Carry, Build: Reading Africa’s Power Sector as One Chain
Generation, transmission and industry are usually budgeted in separate columns. The output of each is the input of the next – which is why the weakest link sets the pace.
The Wires Between: Why Transmission Earns Its Own Story, Not a Footnote
New power plants get the headlines. The lines that carry their output get a clause at the end. That ordering hides where Africa’s electricity is actually lost.
De Aar’s Turbines: A Chinese Wind Flagship in South Africa’s Dry Heart
Longyuan’s De Aar wind farm, 244.5 MW across 163 turbines in the Northern Cape, became the first wind project financed, built and run by a Chinese firm in Africa.
Power Plants by the Dozen: How China Made Generation a Delivery Category
China’s foreign ministry counts more than 80 large-scale power facilities and 120 million kW built across Africa since 2000 – generation turned into a continent-wide product line.
Karuma: Uganda’s 600 MW Bet on Industry, Built Over Twelve Years
Uganda’s largest power plant came online in 2024, doubling effective capacity. The wager is that 600 MW of Chinese-built hydropower can pull industry into a country that does not yet need it.
Bui Dam: How Ghana Bought 400 MW on Commercial Terms From China
Ghana built the Bui hydropower dam to escape blackouts. Its US$292 million Chinese loan carried a 6.1 per cent rate and no grant element – a power-capacity story priced like a mortgage.
The Hall as Hard Asset: China’s Conference Centres and the Business Climate
A refurbished hall in Yaounde looks like a gift. Read as infrastructure, China’s conference-centre diplomacy is a quieter bet on Africa’s business environment.