China Eximbank provides RMB 245 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of National Fiber-Optic Network Backbone Project (Linked to Record ID#19149)

Project narrative

On January 28, 2008, China Eximbank and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo signed an RMB 245 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK GCL n° 3 (2008) TOTAL n° (222)] for Phase 1 of the National Fiber-Optic Network Backbone Project. The GCL carried the following borrowing terms: a 2% interest rate, a 5 year grace period, and a 10 year maturity. The loan was underpinned by the following source of collateral: fees paid by users of fiber optic infrastructure, which were deposited in a lender-accessible escrow account (that was created in October 2013). According to Government of the DRC's Aid Management Platform (AMP), the USD commitment value of the loan was $42,538,472.95 and final cumulative through the loan amounted to $43,760,884.71, which implies a 102.8% disbursement rate. The purpose of the first phase of this project was to lay 650 km of fiber optic cable from Kinshasa to Muanda (Moanda). China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) was the contractor responsible for implementation. Construction began in 2009 and ended in 2010. However, the project was plagued by controversy. The country’s legislature organized a commission of inquiry to determine why many project inputs were overpriced and the project underperformed vis-a-vis its coverage objectives.