Is Chinese infra a trap for Africa?

Legal and institutional frameworks must be strengthened to prevent runaway capital expenses that the countries with limited financial resources can ill-afford

For the last few weeks, there have news emanating from Zambia about ZESCO, the State-owned electricity utility, being handed over to the Chinese since Zambia could not pay the multi-billion dollar debt obligations. These have been dismissed as speculations by the Zambian government even though similar speculations are rife about Kenneth Kaunda International Airport at Lusaka and its national broadcaster ZNBC as well. These challenges of infrastructure development and financing are not unique to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo issued mining licences to a joint venture company called Sino-Congolais des Mines (Sicomines) in lieu of infrastructure development, which was