UK firms securing more deals on projects linked to Belt and Road
On the shores of Maputo Bay in Mozambique, workers are busy putting finishing touches to the Maputo-Catembe bridge, Africa's longest suspension span, which is due to be completed later this year.
The $725 million bridge will cut four hours off the drive time from the South African border to Maputo, and enhance trade and tourism between South Africa and the rest of the Southern African Development Community, an organization of 12 southern African states and Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
The project, the biggest since Mozambique's independence from Portugal in 1975, was mostly funded by the Export-Import Bank of China and built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, but British companies have played a role.
The engineering company Arup acted as consultants to the Chinese bridge designers CCCC Second Highway and helped it fulfill the Eurocode regulations for steel and concrete structures.
Arup's participation in the Maputo-Catembe bridge is one example of the latest trend of British engineering consultants, architects, law firms and banks securing business deals linked to infrastructure projects in economies along the Belt and Road Initiative.
During her visit to China, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK and China would continue to work together "to identify how best we can cooperate on Belt and Road across the region and ensure it meets international standards."
The B&R Initiative is an immense series of infrastructure products that will enhance China's links with Asia, Africa and Europe. The total cost is estimated at between $4 trillion and $8 trillion and while much of the capital and labor comes from China, it is looking for other nations to work with.
British legal firm Linklaters has given legal advice on more than 40 B&R deals while Herbert Smith Freehills has advised B&R projects in more than 30 countries, with clients including the Silk Road Fund, Poly-GCL Petroleum Group Holdings and Beijing Gas Group.
London-based BMI Research uses its economics data and analysis to advise some of China's largest infrastructure, power and manufacturing companies, including the State Grid Corporation of China, China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co and the telecommunications giant Huawei to make investment decisions in B&R economies.
Stuart Salt, a partner and global head of project finance at Linklaters, said the B&R Initiative offers great possibilities for British businesses.
"We have barely scratched the surface of what is possible under this initiative," he said.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping raised the concept in a speech at Nazarbayev University, in the Kazakh capital Astana, when he suggested that China and Central Asia countries revive ancient trade links to build a new Silk Road economic belt, to improve economic ties between the Eurasian countries.
During the next few years, the initiative gained speed, with more than 100 countries and international organizations backing it, and more than 40 signing cooperation agreements with China.
The British government has keenly supported the initiative. The government agency UK Export Finance said it would support British companies' work on B&R projects with 25 billion pounds ($34 billion) of finance.
