Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million grant for Uganda-China Friendship Agriculture Technology and Demonstration Centre (UCFATDC) Project

Project narrative

On June 27, 2008, the Chinese Government committed an RMB 50 million grant for the Uganda-China Friendship Agriculture Technology and Demonstration Centre (UCFATDC) Project through a protocol agreement that it signed with the Government of Uganda. This followed the signing of an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between the two governments on September 18, 2007, which provided the underlying source and mechanism for the provision of the grant funding. The project had several components: training and office buildings, a residence for Chinese experts, a hatchery workshop, a feed factory, fish ponds, and supply of necessary apparatuses and other equipment. Sichuan Huaqiao Fenghuang Group Co. Ltd. was the contractor responsible for project implementation. Project implementation began on October 7, 2009. The project eventually became a source of controversy because Sichuan Huaqiao Fenghuang Group Co. Ltd. was supposed to have handed the UCFATDC facility back to the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) by in April 2014. However, in what seen as a breach of the September 18, 2007 protocol agreement to upgrade and run the centre for three years as part of a skills transfer initiative, Sichuan Huaqiao Fenghuang Group Co. Ltd. retained control of the facility 18 months after the point at which the protocol agreement said that it should have left.