TY - JOUR
T1 - The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa
T2 - Lessons from the Sino-Zambian ‘road bonanza’
AU - Zajontz, Tim
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [PhD Studentship]; Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung [PhD Scholarship]; University of St Andrews Russell Trust [Mobility Award].
Funding Information:
The author is grateful for PhD scholarships from the Economic and Social Research Council and from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation which made the research for this article possible. The author would also like to thank Ruth Hall and Ian Taylor for helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper and two anonymous referees for their suggestions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Oxford Department of International Development.
PY - 2022/1/2
Y1 - 2022/1/2
N2 - This article scrutinises the surge in Chinese-funded road development in Zambia with the help of David Harvey’s theory of spatio-temporal fixes. The ‘moving out’ of Chinese surplus capital and material to Africa has been facilitated by an extensive disbursement of loans and export credits for infrastructure projects. Transcending Harvey’s analytical ‘imperio-centrism’, the article shows that the actualisation of the Chinese infrastructural fix has been contingent upon Zambia’s ambitious, debt-financed infrastructure development agenda. Particularities of Chinese loan financing have thereby fostered ‘not so public’ procurement processes and accelerated Zambia’s rapid debt accumulation. As rising debt has imposed structural constraints, the recent shift in the financial governance of road development towards private project finance is analysed with reference to the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway. The renaissance of public-private partnerships and the gradual privatisation of Zambian roads signify new rounds of accumulation by dispossession, as the Chinese infrastructural fix enters its next stage.
AB - This article scrutinises the surge in Chinese-funded road development in Zambia with the help of David Harvey’s theory of spatio-temporal fixes. The ‘moving out’ of Chinese surplus capital and material to Africa has been facilitated by an extensive disbursement of loans and export credits for infrastructure projects. Transcending Harvey’s analytical ‘imperio-centrism’, the article shows that the actualisation of the Chinese infrastructural fix has been contingent upon Zambia’s ambitious, debt-financed infrastructure development agenda. Particularities of Chinese loan financing have thereby fostered ‘not so public’ procurement processes and accelerated Zambia’s rapid debt accumulation. As rising debt has imposed structural constraints, the recent shift in the financial governance of road development towards private project finance is analysed with reference to the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway. The renaissance of public-private partnerships and the gradual privatisation of Zambian roads signify new rounds of accumulation by dispossession, as the Chinese infrastructural fix enters its next stage.
KW - China
KW - spatio-temporal fix
KW - public-private partnerships
KW - debt
KW - Zambia
KW - roads
U2 - 10.1080/13600818.2020.1861230
DO - 10.1080/13600818.2020.1861230
M3 - Article
SN - 1360-0818
VL - 50
SP - 14
EP - 29
JO - Oxford Development Studies
JF - Oxford Development Studies
IS - 1
ER -