China Eximbank provides $85 million loan for Owando-Makoua Section of Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#60219, #72791, #72792)

On June 19, 2006, China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo signed a $1.6 billion loan framework agreement — also known in the Republic of Congo as the “strategic partnership” (“partenariat stratégique”) — that allowed the Republic of Congo to obtain China Eximbank loans for infrastructure projects through a securitization mechanism: Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)—the country’s state-owned oil company — agreed to deposit a portion of the cash proceeds from its oil exports into an escrow account that is controlled by China Eximbank. This framework agreement (captured in Project ID#60219) was ratified on October 26, 2006. Three of the subsidiary loans that were approved through the framework agreement included an $85 million loan for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (captured in Project ID#12892), a $76 million loan for the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (captured in Project ID#72791), and a $69 million loan for the Mambili Bridge Project Construction Project (captured in Project ID#72792). The borrowing terms of these loans were as follows: 0.25% interest rate, 20-year maturity, and a 5-year grace period. All three projects supported Phase 1 of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (also known as the Owando-Makoua-Liouesso-Ouesso Highway Project), which sought to connect the country’s political capital (Brazzaville) with its economic capital (Pointe-Noire) in the north of the country. The Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project involved the construction of a 73 km segment along National Route 2 (NR2) from Owando to Makoua.The Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project involved the construction of a 56 km road segment from Makoua to Mambili. The Mambili Bridge Project Construction Project involved construction of a 160 meter-long and 11-meter-wide bridge over the Mambili River along National Route 2 (RN2). All three projects were undertaken by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC). Their construction began on June 18, 2008 and ended on May 15, 2012.

Additional details

The French project title is Bitumage de la route Owando-Makoua. The Chinese project title is 奥旺多－马库阿－芒比例公路项目 or 中国路桥2号路 or 国家2号公路 or 奥旺多-马库阿-芒比利（2号）公路. One source identifies the face value of a single China Eximbank loan for the Owando-Makoua-Liouesso-Ouesso Highway Project as 116409000000 CFA Francs. However, this value is roughly equivalent to the sum ($230 million) of the 3 China Eximbank loans for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project ($85 million), the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project($76 million), and the Mambili Bridge Construction Project ($69 million). In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a single $303 million China Eximbank loan for Phase 1 of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project. AidData records three separate China Eximbank loans for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project, the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project, and the Mambili Bridge Construction Project that the Congolese authorities disclosed to the World Bank and the World Bank reported in its September 2014 Republic of Congo Economic Update publication.

Number of official sources

11

Number of unofficial sources

7