Chinese-funded road projects in Ghana trap workers in precarious conditions
A new study reveals that road workers on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in Ghana face constrained labor rights and poor working conditions, driven by complex power dynamics between Beijing, Accra, and corporate contractors. The findings raise questions for policymakers and investors about labor standards in Africa's rapidly expanding infrastructure boom.
Originaltitel: Multiscalar politics of infrastructural labour: Sino-African labour regimes and precarious work in Ghana
<p>Accra, Ghana’s capital, is investing massively in its road infrastructure, reflecting abroader trend of infrastructure-led development across Africa. Similar to theexperiences of other African cities, many of Accra’s road projects are funded andconstructed by Chinese actors. These new infrastructures are transforming the urbanfabric, and previous research has analysed the techno-political promises andoutcomes of such developments. However, less is known about the labour practicesand relations that large-scale infrastructures both enable and require. This paper addsa labour perspective, which is sensitive to political-economic relations at multiplescales, to the growing infrastructure literature. It examines the situation of road workersin Accra and how Sino-Ghanaian relations, at various scales, inform working conditionsand labour agency. The paper draws on fieldwork conducted between 2022 – 2024and includes interviews with road workers, government officials, building consultants, aunion representative, as well as observations and text analysis. The findings highlightthe precarious situation and constrained agency of the studied road workers. Thissituation is explained by an emerging exploitative Sino-Ghanaian labour regime, drivenprimarily by the state's prioritisation of infrastructure development over workers' rightsand its dependence on China to advance its infrastructure-led development agenda.This study thus underscores that large-scale infrastructure projects are deeply politicalprocesses shaped by multiscalar dynamics that inform and potentially reinforce labourinequalities.</p>