Ghana goes ahead with US$2 billion Chinese bauxite barter deal that has conservationists up in arms

Beijing will supply infrastructure funds, grants and debt forgiveness to West African nation in exchange for ore vital to aluminium production

Bauxite will be mined close to source of rivers that provide water for five million people

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Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan meets Ghanaian Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia in Accra. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00am, 17 Nov 2019Updated: 8:27am, 17 Nov 2019

Ghana is going ahead with a controversial US$2 billion deal where China will build roads and bridges in exchange for bauxite ore mined in part of West Africa’s Upper Guinean Rainforest.

Beijing has released a first tranche of funds worth US$649 million under the Sinohydro deal, Ghanaian Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Monday.

The agreement also included a 300 million yuan (US$42.7 million) grant and debt forgiveness worth US$35.7 million to help with Ghana’s infrastructure development, he said.

China would also help to improve the skills of Ghanaian workers through vocational and technical training schemes, Bawumia said.

China’s President Xi Jinping and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo laid the groundwork for the US$2 billion deal last year. Photo: AFP

After talks with Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan in Accra, Ghana’s capital, on November 10 and 11, Bawumia said four road-building projects under the first phase of the deal had been sanctioned by China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, known as Sinosure.

“We hope that the rest will come through by March of 2020,” Bawumia said.

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