The Wall Street Journal reported that thousands of cracks have appeared at Ecuador's Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, a $2.7 billion Chinese Belt and Road Initiative project.
Government engineers say the plant is at risk of collapse. Meanwhile, erosion is also affecting the hillsides surrounding the Coca River, threatening to damage the dam.
The report quoted Rene Ortiz, former Ecuadorian energy minister and former secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as saying, "The problems we have today are all due to the poor quality of equipment and parts provided by Chinese construction projects.
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The Chinese Embassy in Ecuador did not respond to requests for comment on the dam construction plans. Following a recent report on Chinese lending to Ecuador by the Citizenship and Development Foundation, the local arm of Transparency International, the Chinese Embassy in Ecuador issued an open letter on Twitter stating that Chinese loans and projects provided "tangible benefits" to Ecuador at a time of urgent need for financing.
The report noted that several Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects have been plagued by flaws in recent years, including public housing estates in Angola, the Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric power plant in Pakistan, and two hydroelectric power plants in Uganda. However, even if the power plants are inoperable, the Ugandan government must repay $1.44 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank of China starting this year.
According to a 2021 report by the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, over 60% of African countries' revenue from major international contracting projects in 2019 went to Chinese companies. According to a World Bank report, China has become by far the largest government creditor to developing countries, extending loans nearly equal to those of all other governments combined.
