Sustainable Infrastructure: Chinese Contractors Familiarised With Guidelines

A national awareness-raising workshop was organized by WWF to spur Chinese infrastructure and investment companies in Cameroon to consider conservation and footprint reduction.

Chinese infrastructure and investment companies operating in the country, especially in some priority landscapes, have been acquainted with Guidelines of Sustainable Infrastructure for Chinese International Contractors (SIG).

The guidelines were developed by the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA), to which most Chinese companies operating in Cameroon are subsidiaries of member companies. Officials of Chinese companies took part in the national awareness-raising workshop, Wednesday December 13, 2017, that was organized by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Cameroon Country Programme Office and CHINCA.

For some years now, Chinese companies constructing major infrastructures in the country have been heavily criticized for disrespecting human rights and environmental exigencies inherent in the realization of their giant projects.

Cases abound like in 2014 when the China Water and Electricity Corporation in charge of constructing the Lom-Pangar dam was accused of violating the rights of workers. There were also industrial strike actions in protest of the high-handedness of the China First Highway Engineering Corporation constructing the Douala-Yaounde double carriage way.

It is against this backdrop that WWF Cameroon commissioned a report to examine the social and environmental trends, challenges and perspectives of Chinese...