In Ecuador, Dependency On Beijing Financing Of Development Projects Raises Fears, Uncertainty
The long stretch of roadway snaking through the parched, rolling hills outside this sleepy Ecuadorean port city will one day wind up at the foot of one of the country’s most buzzed-about development projects: a mega-refinery that will transform Ecuador into a formidable force in the region’s oil and gas industry. When the grand structure is completed, Ecuador will dramatically streamline operations for its biggest export, jobs will flow to the surrounding communities and China, Ecuador’s largest creditor, will have footed the bill.
At least, that’s been the vision of Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa as his government has tried to seal a financing deal with China for the project for several years. But for now, the solitary “REFINERIA” sign that stands at the side of the road points to a vacant, sandy patch of land and a few completed canals, and questions have continued to bubble over whether the funds from China needed to finish the multibillion-dollar project will even come in.
“I have doubts about it, a lot of doubts,” said Fernando Delgado, a 25-year-old mechanic and resident of Manta, a city that currently revolves around the tuna industry but stands to become an important petroleum hub in Ecuador if the refinery ever gets completed. “The refinery is supposed to be for Ecuador’s future, but so far there have been no results.”
The stalled project, for which Ecuador has already spent more than $1 billion, had been billed as a game-changer for the tiny Andean nation, which relies on oil for roughly half its export revenues but doesn’t yet have the refining capability to meet its own domestic demand for fuel. But for many Ecuadoreans, it’s become a potent symbol for something else: the country’s deep reliance on Chinese financing for its big-ticket development works and growing uncertainty over the future of its ties to Beijing.
http://www.ibtimes.com/china-latin-america-relations-ecuador-dependency-beijing-financing-development-2190025
