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Overview

China gives Papua New Guinea USD 3.47 million to repair Kumul Submarine Cable (Linked to Record ID#61213)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$3,470,000
Commitment Year•2023Country of Activity•Papua New GuineaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•Papua New GuineaSector•CommunicationsFlow Type•Grant

Status

Project lifecycle

Implementation

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Mar 7, 2023

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Funding agencies

Government Agencies

  • Unspecified Chinese Government Institution

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

  • Government of Papua New Guinea

Loan description

China gives Papua New Guinea USD 3.47 million to repair Kumul Submarine Cable (Linked to Record ID#61213)

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On July 6, 2016 China Eximbank provided Papua New Guinea a USD 229,198,215.15 (PGK 726,460,000) preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement for the Kumul Submarine Cable Project (see Record ID#61213). Phase A (System 2) commenced in November 2018 with the arrival of the cable-laying ship carrying 6,000 km of fiber optic cable in Port Moresby and it was successfully completed on February 19, 2020. Phase B (System 1) started immediately thereafter in late February 2020, linking Vanimo from Jayapura, and linking Wewak, Lorengau, Kimbe, Kokopo, and Kavieng with the cable network, and eventually landing in Kieta on May 18, 2020. Phase C (System 3) was completed with the landing of the cable in Daru, Western Province on June 2, 2020, marking the completion of the laying of the 5,457 km of domestic cable. The project as a whole was ultimately completed ahead of schedule on or around August 21, 2020. On September 11, 2022, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea. The earthquake damaged the Kumul Submarine Cable. On March 7, 2023, China donated USD 3.47 million (PGK 13 million) to Papua New Guinea for repairs. Papua New Guinea's Minister for State Enterprise William Duma received the donation in Port Mosby. The total cost to repair the cable is USD 5.5 million (PGK 17 million). According to a media source, USD 977,410 (about K3.4 million) was used for cable spares while USD 2.5 million (about K8.7 million) was for cable vessel cost (Source ID #195681). The damage to the cable affected telecommunication and internet services to seventy percent of the country.