JOHANNESBURG ¨C Every day at sunrise, Alain Eko walks half an hour on a footpath cutting through a coastal forest to the edge of what¡¯s to become the biggest deep-water port in central Africa.
Eko, 34, is among hundreds of migrant workers who have pinned their hopes on Cameroon¡¯s most ambitious project since independence in 1960 that¡¯s meant to transform the sleepy fishing town of Kribi into an industrial hub. Built and funded by China, the project is helping Chinese companies gain a foothold in Cameroon, whose oil-dependent economy used to be dominated by French firms, and eased access to neighboring Chad and Central African Republic.
A university graduate, Eko has offloaded trucks, wedged bricks into hill slopes and shoveled dirt since he moved to southwestern Cameroon to work as a day laborer with contractors for the company building the port, China Harbour Engineering Co., locally known as CHEC. He hopes that one day he¡¯ll earn enough to bring his wife and child from the interior.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.