As Xi pushes on billion-dollar infrastructure projects, few expect the Belt and Road initiative to be constrained by nCoV.

The Covid-19 outbreak started in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. By the time China actively fought the epidemic on January 20, nCoV had become a serious threat. 74,576 cases were detected in mainland China, with 2,118 deaths. Worldwide, 75,662 people were infected with nCoV and 2,130 died.

To prevent the virus from spreading, China imposed blockades in many localities and measures to restrict travel, leaving about 780 million people, equivalent to more than half of the country's population, within the blockade. Some airlines are constantly flying to China, while more than 133 countries impose restrictions on entry with Chinese nationals or those who have been to the country.

The isolation led the world's second-largest economy to "stand still" and at the same time curb Belt and Road (BRI) initiative, President Xi Jinping's ambitious plan to develop. Infrastructure network connecting Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Beijing said as of March 2019, 125 countries and 29 organizations had signed 173 cooperation agreements under the BRI framework.

"Many factories in China are still closed, and those that have been reinstated cannot reach their full capacity," said Boyang Xue, an analyst at consulting firm Ducker Frontier.

According to this expert, projects under the BRI initiative abroad often import equipment and machinery from manufacturers in China, so disruptions in the supply chain will delay progress, while the operation of overseas companies were delayed because Chinese workers could not return to work after the Chinese New Year holiday.

The projects of several Chinese companies in Indonesia, such as Tsingshan Holding Group and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, were interrupted because Indonesia in early February decided to stop flights from China and refused to enter the country with people who used to in mainland China within 14 days.

The US $ 6 billion high-speed rail project, which connects Jakarta with Bandung, Indonesia's textile center about 140 km away, was also affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.

China International Railroad, the company responsible for the project, has set up a working group to monitor the spread of nCoV and called on all Chinese employees to come home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Dan didn't return to Indonesia, an unnamed senior director of the company said. The source added that more than 100 Chinese employees, mainly skilled workers and managers, could not return to Indonesia to work.

"We must focus on the less important parts of this railway project, until some key personnel return," the source said. "We are having a really bad start in 2020. The project, which has stalled because of delays and controversies, now faces a bigger challenge because of the disease."

The office of senior Chinese managers at the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone in Cambodia is also empty. The area is considered a "landmark" project in the BRI initiative, comprising more than 160 businesses and about 20,000 workers.

Most of the workers in Chinese-run factories are Cambodians, but the challenge of maintaining operations remains serious because they depend on the supply of supplies from China.

Some of the other BRI initiatives affected by the Covid-19 epidemic are clearer, such as the Payra thermal power plant in Bangladesh, which is expected to begin commercial operation in early February. The Covid-19 epidemic worried Bangladesh and announced its postponement of the plan, along with several other construction projects.

Peng Qinghua, official in charge of China's National Asset Supervision and Management Committee, on February 18, acknowledged that the Covid-19 epidemic caused "many difficulties" for a number of projects and investment plans in China. overseas, adding that Beijing "contacted foreign companies, executives and authorities as soon as possible, in order to receive support and sympathy".

Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, the BRI initiative was hampered in 2018, when officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and several other countries criticized costly and unnecessary projects. Several countries have considered canceling or reducing the loan terms in the project, citing concerns about costs, sovereignty damage and corruption, prompting China to scale down some of the projects. judgment.

Nick Marro, an expert at the UK-based Economic Intelligence Agency, warned that a stagnation could lead to a longer lead time for BRI projects, leading to increased costs. In addition, although the disease may only affect activities in the first quarter, China's slower economic growth will affect both the region and the world, Marro said.

However, the director of the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that "new projects may be delayed a little, but not so seriously." The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Management Board (CPEC), a $ 62 billion super project, also reassured that the Covid-19 epidemic had not had any impact on them, even though some of its management staff were separated. cup after coming back from work in China.