Greenland airports: possible Chinese investment?

All three parties in Greenland’s ruling coalition, Siumut, the Democrats and Atassut, have signed a “historic” agreement on infrastructure development that envisages expanding two existing airports and building three new ones as well as building a container port in Nuuk and new hydroelectric power plants. The guidelines sketched so far favour building several of these projects through public-private partnerships.

Infrastructure projects, and specifically airports, have been discussed in talks between Greenlandic authorities and potential Chinese investors. Such talks received a good deal of media attention in 2012, but didn’t stop there. During a visit to China last October, Vittus Qujaukitsoq, a minister whose portfolio included finance and trade, explained Greenland’s development plans to representatives from Sinohydro (中国水电), China State Construction Engineering (CSCEC, 中建) and China Harbour Engineering (CHEC, 中国港湾) among other companies. Besides airports, Vittus talked about hydraulic and mining infrastructure projects. The meeting, which appears to have gone unreported in Danish or English-language media, is a sign of continued Chinese interest in investing in Greenland. The coalition partners’ proposal, unveiled just over a month after Vittus returned from China, will surely make a lot more sense if backed by a degree of serious interest from Chinese SOEs.

Prospective Chinese investors might be less happy to learn about the controversy some aspects of the airport plans could generate in Greenland.

At any rate, the first Chinese investor in Greenland could be integrated miner China Nonferrous (中色), if metal prices keep the momentum behind the Citronen fjord and Kvanefjeld mines. Having one Chinese company there could help generate enough confidence for others to follow (and indeed China Nonferrous’ chairman has recently talked of the company playing such a pioneering role in Iceland).