China helped Cameroon build drinking water infrastructure. Is it a debt crisis or developmental aid?

Cameroon has built up it's clean water infrastructure thanks to access to Chinese loans. However, what are the long-term consequences of the resulting debt?

Cameroon developed its water infrastructure with Chinese loans

Originally published on Global Voices

Cameroon, a country on the West Coast of Central Africa, is struggling to deliver potable drinking water to its population of 27.91 million people — particularly in rural regions, which are significantly affected by armed groups like Boko Haram insurgents and Anglophone separatists. Despite large loans from the World Bank and the African Development Bank to support water facilities and sanitation projects, this clean water deficit persists, even as Cameroon remains the African country with the greatest freshwater resources.

This is largely due to intense internal conflict in recent years. Since 2017, Cameroon separatists have been fighting for independence, leading the ruling government to mobilize thousands of military personnel to contain the Anglophone insurgency. According to a World Bank report, household survey data collected in 2021 and 2022 indicated that 23.0 percent of the population in Cameroon lives below the extreme international poverty line of USD 2.15 per person per day (PPP), largely because of the aforementioned conflict. 

Only 43 percent of Cameroonians have access to basic sanitation facilities due to climate change, poverty, violent conflict, ongoing drought in some regions, and other related causes.

Chinese development within Cameroon

Since the early 2000s, China (officially known as the PRC) has sought to strengthen relations with Cameroon in order to improve its standing in the African continent. As a result, the Asian powerhouse has funded development projects such as a water treatment plants, railways, electricity facilities, roads, ports, and more.

Béatrice Kauli Ngumo, a resident of the capital Youndé, shared the positive impact of the project and the PRC's investment in a phone interview with Global Voices: 

At the start, we lived with illnesses and scarcity. Cholera was our neighbor we were doing six kilometers from here to get water. Intestinal worms were common while COVID-19 had wreaked havoc due to lack of potable water as well.

In 2010, China, through the Export-Import Bank of China, offered Cameroon a USD 743 million (5.33 billion Chinese Yuan, CNY) loan for the aforementioned water project. In 2017, China opened its wallet again and granted Cameroon another USD 81.5 million (CNY 594 million) for water facilities and sanitation development. In 2014, China Overseas Group's Cameroon division (中地海外水务有限公司) constructed drinking water treatment plants and related facilities in four cities in the country. In 2017, the Bafoussam drinking water treatment plant was completed and quickly put into official use.

In an interview with Chinese official media, project deputy manager Han Wei stated:

作为对旧水厂的扩建，新水厂目前可日产一万立方米水。为应对当地频繁断电造成无法输水的问题，水厂还新建了两座水塔，以便停电时利用重力势能持续为用户送水.

As an expansion of the old water plant, the new water plant can currently produce 10,000 cubic meters of water per day. The plant has also built two new water towers to continuously supply water to users using gravitational potential energy during power outages.

Urban versus rural water access

In March 2024, on International Water Day, the United Nations shared that the population with access to water increased from 45.3 percent in 2007 to around 70 percent in 2024. It is a notable improvement, however, the situation remains precarious in rural areas, where less than half of households have access to drinking water compared to 8 out of 10 households in urban areas. 

In addition, the quality of the water available is not always good and sometimes leads to diseases and malnutrition.  

Even in large cities like Yaoundé, many people still consume water from boreholes, said activist Christophe Nyemeck Beat, an environment and sanitation journalist in Yaoundé, in an interview with Global Voices

In the city of Douala, some neighborhoods or districts rejoice in the presence of drinking water flowing freely through their taps. But in other places, like the island district of Minoca, located near Yaoundé, there is no pumping station and people often suffer from diseases and water-borne illnesses. 

The violence in separatist regions has also contributed to this inequality. Since the intensification of fighting, attacks, and abductions, in 2017, separatist regions have faced increased poverty and a lack of water. The mixture of misery, lack of potable water, drought, and COVID-19 made the separatist region nearly unlivable. Humanitarian assessments show that at least 3,000 people have been killed, while another 730,000 civilians have fled their homes so far.

This instability poses challenges for potential Chinese investors: It is difficult for corporations to work in places that are actively fighting against the government they hope to work with. The Chinese Embassy has explicitly requested Chinese enterprises evacuate the country's war-torn areas to ensure their workers’ safety.

In March 2023, nine Chinese miners were killed in an armed attack in the Central African Republic, triggering outrage in Beijing, which called for the immediate repatriation of Chinese citizens from the country, and demanded a strong punishment for those involved. Chinese-owned companies are also frequently attacked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which further limits China’s work in Africa, including Cameroon.

Economic exchange between China and Cameroon 

China, for the last 20  years now, has become the key player in the African continent's industrial development.

While many beneficiaries of Chinese investment (often called the Belt and Road Initiative project) are concerned about the so-called debt trap associated with this project, in Cameroon, citizens, and government officials are still enjoying the benefits of this relationship.

In 2018, Cameroonian President Paul Biya visited China in person and, during this official visit, signed five trade agreements with the economic giant. Over the past 20 years, China has provided developing countries with aid programs worth over one trillion dollars as part of its South-South cooperation plan. However, there is also criticism that this substantial investment has pushed Global South countries into debt crises, with debt growth outpacing their economic capacity. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, has stated that 40 percent of African countries are in debt distress.

Cameroon is one of the countries with high debt burdens. According to statistics, the proportion of the national budget allocated to external creditors is still significantly higher than that of the Ministry of Defense. Cameroon's external debt to China is more than USD 5 billion for 45 loan projects.

In recent years, China's aid has gradually shifted from helping to build infrastructure to providing “emergency assistance” to help these countries repay their debts.

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied that its aid is linked to the debt burdens of African countries. In 2019, China forgave 450 billion CFA francs (equivalent to USD 78 million) of Cameroon's debt. Cameroon holds significant strategic importance for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

However, this repeated debt forgiveness has sparked public outrage among some Chinese citizens. Critics question why China continues to lavish money on Africa when at least 30 million Chinese people still live in poverty, with an annual income of less than CNY 2,300 (about USD 340).

This context has put China in a challenging position in relation to Africa. On one hand, China now has a significant stake in seeing African nations prosper and develop their infrastructure due to the significant capital still owed. On the other, domestic criticism and instability in some of the African markets have made the path forward uncertain. 

Written by Desire Nimubona, Ruohan Xie