Performance of Chinese International Contractors in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Uganda

In the past two decades, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has had massive infrastructure projects development to meet the increasing demand for public services and foster socioeconomic transformation. As a result, there has been an influx of Chinese international contractors (CICs) in SSA in order to close the infrastructure gap. Despite the significant involvement and active participation of CICs in the global construction industry, clearly few studies have investigated the performance of CICs in SSA, and their performance is not very well understood. The goal of this paper is to provide insights into the performance of CICs in SSA using a case study of an engineering-procure-construct (EPC) hydropower project in Uganda, East Africa. A literature review was carried out followed by a case study analysis including interviews with the owner's key senior project participants. Performance is evaluated based on five criteria: schedule; change orders; quality; health, safety, and environment (HSE); and owner satisfaction. The findings indicate poor performance of the CIC with 20% schedule overrun, breach of change order procedures, poor quality of work, high rate of incidents and fatalities, and low level of owner's satisfaction. The findings and lessons learned, though specific to this case study, will be useful for public agencies in developing countries, particularly in SSA, administering similar contracts and projects with CICs.