China Eximbank provides $55.3 million preferential buyer's credit for National Road No. 5 (NR 5) Expansion Project

On March 31, 2012, The Government of Cambodia approved a $55,309,000 preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement [China Eximbank PBC No. (2012) 11 Total No. (199] with China Eximbank for the National Road No. 5 (NR 5) Expansion Project. The PBC carried the following terms: 20-year maturity, 7-year grace period, and 2% interest rate. The proceeds of the PBC were to be used by the borrower to partially finance an EPC (commercial) contract with Shanghai Construction Group (SCG). The original purpose of the project was to expand a 30.145 km (18.84 miles) segment of National Road No. 5 (NR 5) — from two lanes to four lanes — that connects the capital city of Phnom Penh with the city of Poipet at the Thai border crossing. The road segment begins at Chroy Changvar Bridge and crosses the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh and then extends to Preak Pnov Bridge in Prek Kdam. The ultimate purpose of the project was to boost economic opportunities for people living along the corridor. SCG was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. The project was supervised by Guangzhou Wanan Construction Supervision Company. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 9, 2012. According to the Cambodian Ministry of Transportation, construction began in 2013, and the project had achieved an 18.89% completion rate as of May 31, 2014. Then, on July 2, 2018, during the inauguration ceremony of the Cambodia-China Friendship Bridge (aka Psar Dey Hoi flyover), Prime Minister Hun Sen, announced that the design of the National Road No. 5 (NR 5) Expansion Project had been adjusted to follow the ‘Tomnob Kob Srov Dam route’ instead, which would be a new shortcut connecting NR 4 and NR 54. According to PM Hun Sen, the reason for the adjustment was the possibility that the original scope of the road expansion project would negatively affect local residents. A study was undertaken and it apparently demonstrated that the 4-lanes expansion could negatively affect many local homes, temples, mosques, and other public facilities.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the National Road No. 5 (NR 5) Extension Project. The Chinese project title is 持的柬埔寨5号公路扩建项目. 2. In the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020, it identifies the face value of the loan that supported this project as $57 million. For the time being, AidData relies on the face value of the loan ($55,309,000) that is recorded in the Government of Cambodia’s aid and debt information management system, which is maintained on behalf of all ministries and agencies of the Royal Government of Cambodia by the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board (CRDB) of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). A MOFCOM source identifies the face value of the loan as $56.8 million. This issue merits further investigation.

Number of official sources

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Number of total sources

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