Civic IDEA thoroughly researched CSCEC and the outrages related to its name worldwide. In the last few decades, the names of CSCEC and its subsidiary companies have been actively aired in numerous scandals in China, Pakistan, Kenya, the USA, the Philippines, Ethiopia and several other countries. In 2009, the World Bank blacklisted China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. due to its involvement in collusive practices and corruption scandals in the Philippines concerning the Philippines National Roads Improvement and Management Program. In August 2020, the United States Department of Defense released a list of Chinese companies having close ties with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the CSCEC was among them. The Trump Administration accused the Chinese firm of cyber espionage and prohibited the US entities from becoming shareholders of the CSCEC. The latter’s involvement in malicious cyber activities is not a surprising discovery, since already in 2017, it was revealed that Beijing had bugged African Union HQ built by the CSCEC in Ethiopia and for five years, data from CPUs in the PRC-constructed building had been transferred to Chinese servers. In early 2022, a lawsuit was filed in a Kenyan court against the CSCEC due to corruption allegations. The court was requested to debar the company from continuing working in Kenya and violating Kenya’s laws and directives.
The most recent scandal erupted in Ukraine when in late March 2023, the Ukrainian anti-corruption agency NAZK added the name of the Chinese company to the list of international sponsors of the Russian war in Ukraine. The agency representatives claimed that despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, CSCEC had continued actively operating in a terrorist state, implementing the most critical infrastructure projects there and planning to expand its presence further by holding constant meetings with the Russian government.
Previously in Georgia, there have been two significant misconducts revealed in CSCEC works – 1) delays and postponement of the contract and 2) environmental damage. On August 21, 2019, the Roads Department signed a contract with China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited regarding construction works of the Chumateleti-Khevi section of the E-60 highway (km 0.0 – km 11.6). The paradox is that the project partially financed by the World Bank was granted to the Chinese company once blacklisted by the same World Bank. But the Roads Department’s practice shows that this is not the only case when the notorious and blacklisted Chinese company wins the project funded by its blacklister organization. According to the contract, the period of implementation of the works is 3 years; therefore, the construction of the road should have been completed by the end of 2022. Nonetheless, the Chinese contractor was unable to finish the work in due time, and for reasons unknown to us, the completion of the project was delayed by seven months. Currently, August 31, 2023, is set as the deadline for the completion of the E-60 highway Chumateleti-Khevi (F1) construction project.
In 2020, local residents revealed through social media that the Chinese company CSCEC had installed a concrete-making plant on the river bank and it was causing pollution of the river. As the local media later found out, due to the leak of this information, the government was obliged to fine the local branch of CSCEC with 3000 GEL.
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