Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
During the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an from May 18, 2023 to May 19, 2023, China Eximbank and the Government of Uzbekistan signed an RMB-denominated buyer’s credit loan agreement for the Lot 1 & Lot 2 of the 2025 Asian Youth Games Project. The loan agreement signing ceremony was attended by Zhang Wencai, Vice President of the Export-Import Bank of China, and Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that Sinosure provided a credit insurance policy on September 26, 2023. It is also known that the borrower is expected to use the loan proceeds to finance an RMB 2.084 billion ($289 million) commercial contract that Tashkent Municipal Government Unified Owner Service Engineering Company signed with China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. on December 30, 2022. The purpose of the project is to build the main competition and service facilities for the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Uzbekistan, including a stadium, a swimming pool, a velodrome, a multi-purpose sports hall, dormitories, and a fighting hall as well as outdoor football, basketball, tennis, extreme sports and beach volleyball venues. The Olympic City was originally expected to occupy an area of about 100 hectares and includes 5 major sports venues and 15 outdoor stadiums. These stadiums were expected to include an athletics and football stadium with 10,000 seats, 6 indoor and 7 outdoor sports facilities, a water sports palace, a cycling track, and complexes for martial arts and team sports. The project also involves the installation of a rooftop photovoltaic system with a total capacity of 7 megawatts. All roofs of parking lots and sports facilities are to expected to be covered with solar panels (in order to facilitate the entry of new energy vehicles and meet the daily electricity needs of the entire sports complex). China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. is the EPC contractor responsible for project implementation. China IPPR International Engineering Co., Ltd. is the contractor responsible for project design. On November 9, 2022, a ceremony for the laying the first stone in the construction of the Olympic City facilities took place in Tashkent. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the event. The project’s originally scheduled commencement date is April 2023 and its originally scheduled completion date is July 2023. Upon completion, the Olympic City was expected be the largest sports complex in Central Asia. It was also expected to host the 4th Asian Youth Games and the 5th Asian Youth Disability Games in 2025, where young people from 45 countries would compete in almost 20 sports. However, in December 2024, Uzbekistan withdrew as host of the 4th Asian Youth Games due to Olympic City construction delays caused by post-pandemic constraints.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 2025年亚青会“奥运城”项目 or 乌兹别克斯坦亚青会奥林匹克城建设项目. 2. The face value of the loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that the face value of the loan is equivalent to 85% of the commercial contract cost (RMB 2.084 billion x 0.85 = RMB 1,771,400,000). 3. In October 2023, at the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the loan agreement for Uzbekistan Olympic Village Project Lot 1 & Lot 2 was included in a list of practical cooperation deliverables. 4. Sinosure issued a medium- and long-term export buyer's credit insurance policy for the project. The insured amount of this project is RMB 2.569 billion. 5. This project is reportedly the first international engineering project in Uzbekistan to be financed by a sovereign commercial loan denominated in RMB.