China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean provides $22 million loan to Autovías Cinco S.A. for Circuit 5 Road Corridor Project

Project narrative

On December 16, 2021, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works of Uruguay awarded consortium Autovías Cinco S.A. -- a special purpose vehicle (SPV) consortium consisting of ALDESA (11% ownership), COALVI (69% ownership), and RAMÓN C. ÁLVAREZ (20% ownership) -- the public tender for the construction and operation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Circuit 5 Road Corridor Project in Uruguay. Then, on December 23, 2021, a $54 million loan was signed between IDB Invest -- the private sector institution of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, formerly the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) -- and Autovías Cinco in order to finance the project. The loan included $22 million in funds mobilized from the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (CHC), a fund established by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and managed by IDB Invest. It also included $34 million of IDB Invest's own capital. The loan carried an 18 year maturity period (final maturity date: December 15, 2038), but other borrowing terms are unknown. In addition to the IDB Invest loan, approximately $84.2 million in loan funding was provided by Banco de la Repúbclica Oriental del Uruguay and Banco Santander, for a total of $138.2 million in debt financing. The remainder of the project cost, expected to be about $322 million, would be covered by sponsor equity. Then, on January 18, 2022, the Design, Construction, Operation, and Financing Contract was formally signed between the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and Autovías Cinco. The agreement included the award of a 20 year concession for the operation of the road. It also specified a construction period of approximately 36 months. Circuit 5 Road Corridor Project includes the design, construction, rehabilitation, operation, and maintenance of two sections of the national road system totaling 184 km: the Route No. 14 section (Sarandí del Yi to Lascano) and the Route No. 15 section (Lascano to Velázquez). In accordance with IDB Invest policy, an Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) and an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) were completed for this project.