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Overview

Chinese Government provides RMB 81.48 million interest-free loan for Parliament Building Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#55597)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$19,931,596
Commitment Year2005Country of ActivityLesothoDirect Recipient Country of IncorporationLesothoSectorGovernment And Civil SocietyFlow TypeLoan

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Nov 1, 2005
Start (actual)
Jun 17, 2007
End (actual)
Jun 27, 2012
First repayment (originally scheduled)
Dec 30, 2014
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Dec 27, 2024

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

Visualizes the AidData-provided feature geometry for this project.

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This building is located in the capital city of Maseru on New Parliament Road, Mpilo Hill. More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/147255909#map=19/-29.32284/27.49258

Stakeholders

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

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

Government Agencies

  • China Ministry of Commerce

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

  • Government of Lesotho

Implementing agencies

Private Sector

  • Yanjian Group Co., Ltd.

Loan desecription

Chinese Government provides RMB 81.48 million interest-free loan for Parliament Building Construction Project

Grace period10 yearsGrant element75.0516%Interest rate (t₀)0%Interest typeFixed Interest RateMaturity20 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

During an official visit to Beijing in November 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to grant funds and build a new parliament building in Lesotho on Mpilo Hill. China’s Ministry of Commerce subsequently provided an interest-free loan worth approximately RMB 81.48 million for the Parliament Building Construction Project. The proceeds of this loan were used to finance a commercial (EPC) contact between Yanjian Group and Lesotho’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport, which was signed on June 8, 2007. The project involved the construction of a 5-story building on Mpilo Hill covering 7116.6 square meters. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 29, 2007. However, construction did not begin until June 17, 2007. The construction period was expected to take 20 months. However, several logistical delays slowed project implementation. The completed building was officially handed over to the Government of Lesotho on June 27, 2012. The Chinese Government subsequently dispatched a technical assistance team to maintain this building (as captured via Record ID#55597). The interest-free loan that supported the construction of the building was also written-off in 2018 (as captured via Record ID#55890).

Staff comments

1.The Chinese project title is 莱索托议会大厦项目 or 莱索托议会大厦项目 or 我援莱议会大厦工程 or 莱索托议会大厦. 2. Since borrowing terms for the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set maturity period to 20 years by default and grace period to 10 years by default per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity period of interest-free loans is 20 years, with a drawdown period of 5 years, grace period of 5 years, and repayment over 10 years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5 years of additional grace. 3. This record has been marked as having evidence of financial distress because it was subject to debt forgiveness captured in record #55890.