AFRICA

Bank of China’s loan to Mozambique used to carry out several projects in provinces of Zambézia and TeteAccording to macauhub， a loan of US$50 million provided by the Bank of China to the former Zambezi Planning Office has made it possible to carry out a variety of development projects， said the chairman of the institution that closed down in 2010.In an interview with weekly Magazine Independente， in its Tuesday edition， Sérgio Vieira said that the funding was used to buy agricultural equipment， tractors and trucks and for construction and equipping of rice processing factories and mills in the districts of Angónia， Guruè and Namacurra， in the provinces of Tete and Zambézia.Sérgio Vieira， who headed up the Zambezi Planning Office from 2011 until it closed in 2010， noted that in Gurué， in Zambézia province， for example， a factory was installed where previously there had been none.The Zambezi Planning Office project covered an area of 225，000 square kilometres in the provinces of Tete and Zambézia and amongst other things aimed to help local rural workers to increase their production rates and productivity.Huawei delivers Uganda fiber Internet backboneUganda inaugurated the second phase of an Internet backbone infrastructure measuring 1，380 kilometers (855 miles)， bringing the total amount of fiber optics laid in the country so far to 1，548 km in october， according to newvision.co.ug.The second phase of the project comes more than four years after the first phase of the US$106 million National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure(NBI) and the Electronic Government Infrastructure(EGI) initiative.The Chinese government sourced and recommended Huawei Technologies to carry out the project. The Uganda NBI is part of an East Africa-wide terrestrial fiber-optic cable， which will， when complete， cover 15，600 km linking the five countries of Uganda， Kenya， Tanzania， Rwanda and Burundi.In the final phase， which begins work in January， 307 km of fiber will be laid from the Uganda capital， Kampala， to the Rwanda border to complete a link from the Kenyan port town of Mombasa.The second phase has linked Uganda to neighbors Kenya in the east and South Sudan to the north.Phase one， which was dogged by technical as well as financial problems， linked all government departments and agencies. James Saka， the executive director of the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U)， the IT regulator， said the project will help lower the cost of Internet bandwidth for the government and target user groups such as schools， universities， hospitals and research institutions.He said the 24-core， 2.5GB cable， with potential for upgrade to 10GB， will provide high-speed Internet bandwidth to support IT-enabled services such asBusiness Process Outsourcing (BPO). It will also enhance efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to the citizens of Uganda through electronic transactions such as e-taxation， e- health and e-learning.Saka said the NBI will improve collaboration within government through services such as unified messaging and support the digital migration process by providingauxiliary infrastructure for the transmission and delivery of digital television signals.The facility will also facilitate business transactions nationally and internationally through the adoption of e-commerce. Government is set to tender outmanagement of the second phase of the project to a private operator who will ensure 24-hour availability of the network.The minister of information and communication technology， Ruhakana Rugunda， said a share of the funds raised by the private manager， who willlease capacity to the private sector， will be used to maintain and develop new routes of the network. In a directive that will likely hit the revenue of private telecom operators， President Yoweri Museveni has directed that all ministries and agencies that are connected on the network should use it as their primary infrastructure for voice， data， Internet and email.Rugunda said that when commercialization of the backbone is finalised， it will be possible to deploy services such as video conferencing， Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)， unified messaging and collaboration services， which can allow sharing of data across government. “Other priority interventions to optimize use of the NBI/EGI will include bulk purchase of international Internet bandwidth capacity for priority targeted user groups， establishing a shared ICT services platform (government “cloud”) for hosting all existing and future e- government applications，” Rugunda said.The infrastructure will also help in establishing what he called public key infrastructure to facilitate secure e-transactions， and support BPO or IT-enabled services including incubation and training.Already， five ministries including that of defence and foreign affairs use applications like video conferencing and VoIP.The entire project is funded by a concessional loan from the export/import bank (EXIM) of China. Uganda has to pay back the loan over a period of 20 years.Ghana orders two patrol vessels from ChinaGhana has ordered two 46 metre patrol vessels from China’s Poly Technologies Incorporated as part of a larger drive to modernise its navy. The vessels will be used to combat piracy and increase maritime security off Ghana’s coast once they are delivered before yearend， according to ghanaweb.com. According to Ghana’s defence minister Lieutenant General Joseph Henry Smith， the vessels form part of the drive to modernise Ghana’s navy as it is not able to defend the country’s exclusive economic zone.In September 2008 Ghana signed a US$39.86 million contract with Poly Technologies Incorporated (PTI) for the two vessels. Construction began at China’s Quigdao Shipyard in May 2009 after PTI received an initial US$8.48 million payment. The boats， named Chemle and Ehoo， were launched on April 1 this year and commissioned during a visit to Beijing by Smith in June. Smith said he appreciated the assistance of the Chinese government and PTI in supporting Ghana’s armed forces.The two vessels are being funded by Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture whose minister， Kwesi Ahwoi， was quoted as saying that， “for the first time in our history， Ghana is acquiring patrol boats to be dedicated to fisheries surveillance in our waters， which would go a long way to enhance and ensure national fisheries governance.”Both Ehoo and Chemle will carry 14.5 mm and 12.7 mm machine guns and will have a complement of 30 personnel.In July last year Jane’s reported that Ghana’s Navy plans to acquire ten new vessels over the next two years. Ghana is also expanding its Naval Dockyard in the southwest of the country. Poly Technologies is building another two 46 metre patrol vessels for Ghana under a separate contract. Janes believes Ghana has ordered two 62 metre patrol craft from South Korea for delivery by July 2013.On January 21， Ghana’s navy commissioned a refurbished Sea Dolphin-class fast-attack craft donated by South Korea. The vessel， GNS Stephen Otu， is being joined by two fast attack craft from Germany. In 2008 the US government gave Ghana three ex-Coast Guard Defender class boats and another four in March last year and in December last year the Ghana Navy received six new speedboats.We have constantly been reviewing our measures to safeguard our waters， most importantly to protect our oil installations，” Smith told Reuters last month. “We are aware of the increasing piracy attacks in our neighbourhood and we are very much prepared to face any such attacks.”Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is not on the scale of that off Somalia， but analysts say an increase in scope and number of attacks in a region ill-equipped to counter the threat could affect shipping and investment. For instance， Cameroon blamed piracy for part of a 13 percent drop in oil output in 2009.Other maritime problems include piracy and drug trafficking. The United Nations estimates that US$1 billion worth of cocaine， destined for Europe from Latin America， passed through West Africa in 2008.Ghana’s Navy is relatively small， with 2 000 personnel， according to the IISS’s 2011 The Military Balance. It operates two 1940s-era Balsam class vessels previously operated by the US Coast Guard， four fast attack craft built by Lurssen (two PB 45 Dzata class and two PB 57 Achimota class vessels) and a single PB Mk III inshore patrol boat that was transferred from the US Navy in 2001.Ghana is also strengthening its air force and recently ordered two Airbus Military C295 transports， an Embraer 190 and two Diamond DA 42 surveillance aircraft which will presumably be used for maritime patrol， especially safeguarding Ghana’s offshore oil assets - the country becoming a major oil producer in the region after beginning production in December last year.TransNamib buys Chinese wagonsAccording to the report from namibian.com.na， TRANSNAMIB board chairman Festus Lameck was recently in China to conclude a N$48 million deal with a Chinese company for the purchase of 100 railway wagons. TransNamib chief public relations officer Ailly Hangula-Paulino has dismissed claims that the rail and road carrier was in the process of buying more locomotives from China， though.Four locomotives bought from a Chinese firm， CSR Ziyang Locomotive Works， in 2004 at a cost of N$24 million have experienced major problems and are no longer in use.Hangula-Paulino said Lameck’s recent trip to China was to inspect the manufacturing plants of the two companies shortlisted for supplying the wagons.The two companies are Shenzen Sunray Group， which has been awarded the contract， and CSR Ziyang. About 20 companies had expressed interest in the contract， according to Nampa.Questions also have been raised about the involvement of Lameck in operational issues at TransNamib， which should be the domain of the managing director.Hangula-Paulino told Nampa that the chief executive officer， Titus Haimbili， was not sidelined from the day-to-day running of the parastatal.In an apparent justification of Lameck’s involvement in the purchase of the wagons， Hangula-Paulino said “the TransNamib board is only honouring their fiduciary responsibility”.An earlier decision by Haimbili to dismantle the dysfunctional Chinese locomotives and sell them as scrap has also been reversed.“TransNamib has signed an agreement with another Chinese company， Zhongs， for the supply of spare parts [for the locomotives]，”， a report by Nampa reads.The agreement is reported to have been signed two months ago.According to HangulaPaulino， the latest contract with Shenzen Sunray Group makes provision for the supply of spare parts for the railway wagons for one year.Provision is also made for the supply of spare parts outside the 12-month guarantee， in terms of TransNamib’s procurement policy.According to a local weekly the purchase of the wagons is now the subject of an Anti-Corruption Commission investigation.