By MarEx 2015-10-12 11:36:29
Sao Tome and Principe, an African island country located near the equator, and China signed a deal to build an $800 million deep sea port.
China’s state-owned China Harbour Engineering Co. said it will about $120 million in the project and will be responsible for engineering, design and construction of the port. The new deep sea transshipment port will be developed in phases and will be operational in 2019.
Eighty-percent of Sao Tome’s primary export commodity is cocoa, but it also has the potential for developing of hydrocarbons. Sao Tome is located in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, which is jointly being developed in a 60-40 split with Nigeria. And while actual production is still years off, the first licenses were sold in 2014.
Constructing a deep sea port in Sao Tome is the second indication of increased Chinese interest in Africa. Last week, reports surfaced that China is eyeing investments in Kenya’s Port of Mombasa and Lamu to expand its Maritime Silk Road vision.
The Port of Mombasa is the busiest in East Africa and serves Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Construction is currently taking place on Port of Lamu, which is part of the transportation corridor between Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda. When completed, the corridor will be named LAPSET and is expected to facilitate the transport of crude and gas as well as other goods.
The project will include a network of railways, highways, pipelines, power grids for increased international including China.
This post was sourced from Maritime Executive: View original article here.
