Envy in Papua New Guinea as Chinese money pours in

In Papua New Guinea’s capital, shanty towns without electricity or water that surround modern high-rise buildings are soon to be joined by a new project in the coastal city -– a gleaming Chinatown complex.

Beijing is pouring vast sums into Papua New Guinea, a resource-rich jewel in the Pacific crown but one of the poorest countries in the world, because of its vast potential and position near crucial sea routes.

A slew of Chinese projects are popping up across Port Moresby including the $414 million complex -– Beijing’s biggest investment in Papua New Guinea -- that will boast a cinema, hotel, apartments and restaurants.

But locals are aggrieved they are seeing no obvious benefit from Beijing’s big spend, complaining that thousands of workers are being flown in and paid to work on large projects, only to send the money home.

“Why are we left out? What the Chinese can do, our people can do,” said former MP Gabia Gagarimabu, 62.

“They are coming in and we are sitting there and watching.”

Unfinished or unused Chinese projects are also raising fears about the benefits of Beijing’s aid and stoking suspicion it is worsening corruption in the country.

Cranes remain idle at the sprawling Chinatown site after years of Covid-19 delays. A Chinese-built skyscraper, the tallest building in the country at 23 storeys, towers over the city’s skyline but sits empty after officials found multiple defects.

The walls of a convention centre built by China for the APEC summit are covered in graffiti with only guards and gardeners remaining at the site. They say electricity has been turned off since 2018.

“Projects become ghost projects. Where is the money? Where is the development?” asked Gagarimabu.

Beijing’s investment in the most populous South Pacific nation is for its “strategic location, plenty of oil and gas, minerals, plenty of opportunity,” said a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity.

China is now the country’s second-largest trading partner behind former colonial ruler Australia, with Beijing investing heavily in construction but also energy, resources, retail and telecoms.

A new six-lane highway now runs through the capital.

The entrance of a school for 3,000 students is adorned with Mandarin script while bus stops with Chinese signage built for the 2018 APEC summit dot the city centre.

A national courthouse complex being built carries the name of a Beijing-headquartered state construction company.

Chinese state-owned media has said the investments are geared at improving living standards.

The investment has “no political strings attached”, Beijing’s Global Times newspaper said in an editorial last year.