China Eximbank provides $72 million loan for Phase 2 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project (Linked to Project ID#60219 and #161)

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 loans to fund export buyer's credits from China Eximbank 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 via Project ID#60219) was ratified on October 26, 2006. Two of the subsidiary loans that were approved through the framework agreement included a $81 million loan in 2007 for Phase 1 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project (captured in Project ID#161) and a $72 million loan for Phase 2 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project (captured in this project, ID#141). The borrowing terms of these loans were as follows: a 0.25% interest rate, a 20-year maturity, and a 5-year grace period. The (principal) amount outstanding under these two loans was $10,880,885 as of December 31, 2019. This project involved the construction and equipping of Maya-Maya International Airport Project in the capital city of Brazzaville. Phase 1 involved the construction of a terminal building (including viaducts and a parking lot with 800 spaces). Phase 2 involved the installation of runway equipment and the construction of an airport hotel and an aviation club. Weihai International Economic & Technical Cooperative Co., Ltd (WIETC) was the contractor responsible for implementation of both phases. Phase 1 was launched on August 7, 2007 and completed on June 1, 2011. Phase 2 was completed on August 15, 2014.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 布拉柴维尔机场项目 or 玛雅－玛雅机场为刚果 or 马亚-马亚国际机场 or MayaMaya国际机场. Phase 2 is sometimes also referred to as the Maya-Maya International Airport Equipment Project. 2. According to China Eximbank, it issued a buyer’s credit loan in support of Phase 1 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project. The loan that supported this project was also approved as a subsidiary loan under the $1.6 billion, oil-backed loan framework agreement that China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo signed in 2006 (see Project ID#60219). However, it is unclear if this means that all of the subsidiary loans approved under that framework agreement were buyer’s credit loans. This issue merits further investigation. 3. Several sources refer to a “$160 million loan” from China Eximbank for the project, which likely reflects the sum total of China Eximbank’s lending for Project ID#161 and Project ID#141. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a single $136 million China Eximbank loan for Maya-Maya International Airport Project. AidData records two separate China Eximbank loans — for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project, respectively — that the Congolese authorities disclosed to the World Bank and the World Bank reported in its September 2014 Republic of Congo Economic Update publication. 4. Project ID#141 and Project ID#161 were funded through export buyer's credits, however, it is unclear if all the subsidiary loans approved under the 2006 framework agreement (Project ID#60219) were buyer’s credits.

Number of official sources

5

Number of total sources

9