China rail builder suspends Libya projects

SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (AFP): State-run China Railway Construction has said that its billions of dollars of projects in Libya were in jeopardy after it was forced to suspend them due to ongoing unrest. "Due to increasing turbulence in Libya and attacks against some of the company's camps in Libya, all projects of the company have been suspended," it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. "Given the uncertain situation... the preservation of equipment and materials on site and subsequent development remain unclear," it said, adding that most of its employees in the strife-torn country had been evacuated. The company currently has three projects in Libya with a total contract value of $4.24 billion. Only about a sixth of the work, or $686 million worth, has been completed, according to the statement. The remaining $3.55 billion worth of contracts accounted for 2.3 per cent of the company's total outstanding contracts globally, it said. Shanghai-listed shares of China Railway Construction ended the morning session down 3.01 per cent, compared with a 0.74 per cent fall in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. The company is among a number of Chinese firms that have pulled staff from Libya, where a popular uprising has triggered a mass exodus of foreigners. China State Construction Engineering, which fell 1.37 per cent by midday, said Tuesday a project to build 20,000 homes in Libya, worth 17.6 billion yuan ($1.16 billion), was suspended with only half the work completed. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the nation's largest oil and gas producer, said Monday it had halted production in Libya and evacuated all its employees from the country. China has launched an air, sea and land operation to evacuate more than 30,000 citizens from Libya, as the unrest continues. According to state media, Chinese citizens living in Libya work mainly in the oil, rail and telecom sectors.