They built roads to invade those places in the first place, long before they "owned" them, dug out the gold and sent it to Rome.
I'm not sure the Chinese strategy will work or if they'll see enough growth to support it. It's quite scary. I think I'd much rather prefer US bases to Chinese loans.
What China is doing is modern colonization through loans and I can only see it backfire.
It's a great scheme though, but at least Rome owned the places where it builded roads.
Edit: downvotes, please comment why. I'll rather discuss :)