"Hmm. When I got off the plane, I also saw that the infrastructure here is too weak, and we have begun to build smart roads in China, and even the coverage rate of ordinary roads here is very low. Guo Chu said empathetically, "But this also shows that the market prospects here are very large." ”

"But business is not good!" Bai Tongxi took him to the temporary living quarters and said, "In the past few months, we have encountered too many troubles. And it's something that I have never thought of before in the country. ”

"Now it's so bad that the progress of the project has completely stopped, and we can't continue! If this is the case, I think our group will have to leave Nigeria!"

"So serious?" Guo Chu frowned.

"This is not serious, what is serious is not only that the bamboo basket is empty, but also a loss of blood!" Guo Chu said this, his tone was a little resentful.

Zhongnan Construction Group entered the African market only last year, first carrying out infrastructure construction in an area of Kaduna State in Nigeria. The project includes a long-distance road, a mid-way transport railway, and the construction of part of the urban area.

Since last year, they have started to send workers and construction machinery to Nigeria, and have recruited local workers to start construction. But more than nine months have passed, and their progress has not yet reached one-third of what they originally envisioned, and their expenditure has been more than three times the budget!

"The construction conditions here are so poor that I have never seen anything in my life!" Bai Tongxi complained, "The government management here is extremely chaotic, and we have wasted a lot of effort just running all kinds of procedures and handling all aspects." ”

"Even then, our safe working conditions cannot be guaranteed. There are often robbers and thieves who come out and stare at us to rob and steal, and last month we also injured three workers, one of whom almost died, and now sent back to China for recuperation. The mood of the workers was not good, and many workers asked to return to China. ”

"There is also our construction machinery, once several large machinery were directly snatched away by gunmen, and the loss reached 10 million at one time!"

Bai Tongxi is a stomach of bitter water, he has been in the peaceful China for a long time, and he feels unhappy everywhere here.

Although Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, it has poor policing. Because of poverty, tribes, beliefs, etc., armed conflicts occur from time to time in many places.

As for robbery and extortion, it happens almost every day. And in the eyes of criminals here, foreigners are "rich people" and are more likely to be their targets.

These days, the people of Zhongnan Construction Group have suffered a lot.

In order to integrate here, they also specially trained locals to be bodyguards and laborers, but unfortunately, the role of these people is also limited. Those local workers almost just came to mix and eat, grinding foreign workers, paddling, and running away when they encountered danger, and it was the group that pitted.

Bai Tongxi took Guo Chu to the construction site to see that they were sitting in a modified off-road vehicle, the doors and windows were bulletproof, and there were bodyguards with guns in the car. This made Guo Chu really feel that it was indeed a bit dangerous to travel here.

They went to see a railroad that was built to transport mineral resources. Nearby, there is a huge tin mine, which is also mined by a Chinese company.

The small section in front of the railway is fine, it has been built, and workers are responsible for inspection and maintenance every day. And when it was interrupted, the construction was cut off here, and there were no workers to start work.

When Guo Chu and the others arrived, they found that several black people were stealing things at the construction site. The black bodyguards in the car immediately got out of the car and shouted at them with guns, and the people fled in a hurry.

"These blacks are poor people from nearby villages or tribes, and they often come to steal. Bai Tongxi said in a helpless and sad tone, "It doesn't work if we call the police, they can't manage it themselves, they can't help us." If we wound them, they will find a whole bunch of people from the tribe who come to us to find trouble. ”

"Once we injured a few thieves, but we lost tens of thousands of yuan, do you think there is still such a truth in the world?"

"It really doesn't make sense. Guo Chu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work." ”

Bai Tongxi continued: "The construction here has been stopped, because some workers are unwilling to work here because of the recent robbery and injury incident. Our excavators, cranes, etc., were also robbed of a few units, and they had to be remobilized. ”

"And safety is not guaranteed, and we can't start work. ”

Guo Chu asked, "What do other people do? ”

"It's not like it's messy everywhere. Bai Tongxi said, "Some local security is okay, and some companies have hired their own security teams, as long as they do not encounter large-scale armed conflicts, there is basically no problem." ”

"We tried to do that and found that it simply didn't work. I'm afraid that someone is deliberately making trouble, when we first came here last year, one of the local black bodyguards we hired died!"

"This project is too difficult to do! The situation in China is so good, sometimes I want to go back to China to do it. ”

Guo Chu knew that Bai Tongxi was under too much pressure during this time, and comforted: "Aren't I here to help you? No matter how difficult it is, we must finish this project, we have already invested so much, and giving up halfway is a huge loss!"

"Moreover, it is also the experience we have gained for engineering in Africa. It would be a pity to give up on such a large market in Africa as a whole. ”

"We have to redeploy workers and machinery from the country. Bai Tongxi only complained a little, and didn't think about giving up.

"I'm afraid that I'll encounter the same situation again. ”

"You don't have to worry about this, we just ordered a batch of new equipment from Pengyun Machinery, and when the order arrives, I will be transferred here directly. The problem of labor shortage should be well solved. Guo Chu said, "You just said that someone may be deliberately making trouble, what is the situation?"

"There's a Gora tribe nearby, they're relatively strong, and their chieftain is more domineering. When we build nearby, we have to give them 'benefits'. But their chief was a little too greedy, and thought we weren't giving enough, and had hinted at threatening to cause us chaos, which I suspect he was the fault of. Bai Tongxi explained.

Guo Chu understands him, Bai Tongxi has always been conservative, and he is a little suspicious, which is almost a sure thing. This problem is really difficult to solve.

Nigeria is not a modern country in the true sense of the word, there are many tribes in the country, and in some areas, tribal chiefs have considerable power and even have their own armed forces, and it is not uncommon for armed conflicts between tribes to occur.

Even if the local government allowed them to build here, they would have no choice but to ask the nearby chiefs to trouble them.