China Eximbank provides RMB 97 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of National Optical Fiber Backbone Project (Linked to Project ID#62458)

On August 21, 2012, China Eximbank and the Government of Sierra Leone (represented by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development) signed an RMB 97,000,000 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK GCL NO. (2012) 24 TOTAL NO. (426) Series No. 10002012009210] for Phase 1 of the National Optical Fiber Backbone Project. The proceeds of the loan were on-lent by Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB), a state-owned company in Sierra Leone responsible for owning, operating, and managing the network of the National Optical Fiber Backbone Project. The GCL carried the following terms: a 2% interest rate, a 0% default (penalty) interest rate, a 5-year grace period, a 20-year maturity, a 0.5% management fee, and a 0.5% commitment fee. The borrower agreed to deposit project-related revenues in a special account to facilitate repayment. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract (number 0006941103080A) between Huawei Technologies Company Limited and the Ministry of Information and Communication of the Republic Sierra Leone, which was signed on June 20, 2011. The purpose of this project was to connect Sierra Leone to international fiber that links France with South Africa and thereby provide better internet services to Sierra Leoneans. It involved the laying of 350-400 km of fiber optic cable and the establishment of ICT facilities (including internet connections) in Lungi, Port Loko, Rogbaray, Makeni, Massingbe, Sewafeh, and Koidu. Huawei Technologies was the contractor responsible for implementation. The project commenced on January 10, 2013. Then, in February 2013, the President of Sierra Leone commissioned the landing of the fiber optic cable. The project was officially completed on December 31, 2016.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Phase I of the National Fibre Optic Backbone Infrastructure Project. The Chinese project title is 塞拉利昂光纤骨干网项目. 2. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it does not identify the borrowing terms of this loan. AidData relies on the maturity (20 years, grace period (5 years) and interest rate (2%) reported in the China Eximbank loan agreement that supported this project [CHINA EXIMBANK GCL NO. (2012) 24 TOTAL NO. (426) Series No. 10002012009210]. 3. The China Eximbank loan agreement can be accessed in its entirety at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20488797-sle_2012_466. 4. The identification number for this project in the Government of Sierra Leone’s Development Assistance Database (DAD) is SL/001923. 5. The Government of Sierra Leone loan identification number for this project is 2012284. 6. This China Eximbank loan is not recorded the China’s Overseas Development Finance Dataset, which Boston University's Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 7. Phase 2 of this project, which is captured in Project ID#62458, was also funded by China Eximbank.

Number of official sources

12

Number of total sources

23