Faced
with strong local societal pressure and international economic pressure, African
states are confronted with growing demand for development and infrastructure construction.
Attracting more and more international investors, can the African construction
market be considered as one of the generators of employment?
Welcome inaugurations
At a time when certain
countries in Africa, such as Chad, are suffering from the sharp fall in price
of oil per barrel, and are seeing some worksites at a standstill for an indefinite
time, projects have seen their efforts rewarded. Large-scale infrastructure,
such as the regional hospital in Pala and three other hospitals in the
district, are real progress in health development, the paving of the Sarh-Kyabé road, and the modernization and renovation of the
international Hassan Djamouss airport in N’Djamena, all recently inaugurated, mean
relief for local people on the one hand, and contracts for other purposes on
the other.
In Chad, a painstaking recovery, but one well on track
In Chad, good news is again on the agenda.
Since November 2015, the BDEAC has granted three loans with a total of 70 billion
F CFA, allocated to the construction and paving of two major roads: Kyabé-Singako
(72.3 kilometers) and Kélo-Pala (109 kilometers), and the upgrading of the
airport hubs Amdjarasss, Faya Largeau, and Moundou,
ensuring they can handle domestic and international flights. Similarly, in
early February, investors from a large Chinese construction group, made
assurances that they wanted to explore the possibilities of taking part in
Chad’s development. Thus the arrival of funds already engaged could boost
employment in the very near future.
Projects that bloom across the continent
Development projects are many, and central
to the concerns of government, particularly in regard to road infrastructure. But
these projects are also being scaled up when it comes to the cooperation of
several states. This is the case for rail transport between Cameroon and Chad,
the road network between the Sudan and Chand, and for the Trans-Saharan project
dating from 1970, which crosses Algeria, Tunisia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and
Chad. While Tunisia has completed its work, Chad still has 40% of its section
to complete. Enough to ensure work for quite some time in a country where the
young Ibrahim Hissein Bourma is the leader of a new generation of entrepreneurs:
his company, Imperial Construction, part of the Oum Alkheir Holding group, has
established itself as the construction industry’s national leader for its building,
earth moving and road development.
