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Overview

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

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$81,827,795
Commitment Year•2011Country of Activity•CongoDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•CongoSector•Transport And StorageFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Jan 1, 2011
Start (planned)
Aug 1, 2007
Start (actual)
Jul 1, 2011
End (actual)
Aug 15, 2014
First repayment
Dec 31, 2015
Last repayment
Dec 27, 2030

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

Visualizes the AidData-provided feature geometry for this project.

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This project involved the construction and equipping of Maya-Maya International Airport Project in the capital city of Brazzaville. More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/324597178.

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Policy Banks

  • Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

  • Government of Republic of Congo

Implementing agencies

State-owned companies

  • Weihai International Economic & Technical Cooperative Co., Ltd (WIETC)

Accountable agencies

State-owned companies

  • Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)

Collateral providers

State-owned companies

  • Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)

Loan desecription

China Eximbank provides $72 million loan for Phase 2 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project

Grace period•5 yearsGrant element•65.0736%Interest rate (t₀)•0.25%Interest type•Fixed Interest RateMaturity•20 years

Collateral

This China Eximbank loan -- and other subsidiary China Eximbank loans approved under a June 19, 2006 framework agreement that was renewed/extended in 2012 -- was collateralized against cash proceeds from SNPC oil export sales to Chinese importers (through an offtake agreement), which were deposited in a China Eximbank-controlled escrow account. The Republic of Congo was required to maintain a minimum cash balance in the escrow account equivalent to approximately 20% of its total outstanding debt to China Eximbank. The cash balance in the China Eximbank-controlled escrow account was $534,238,226 (CFA 272,846,414,000) in 2011, an unknown amount in 2012, an unknown amount in 2013, an unknown amount in 2014, an unknown amount in 2015 (equivalent to 26% of SNPC oil sales in 2015), $281,560,937 in 2016 (equivalent to 7,558,672 barrels of oil or 32% of SNPC oil sales in 2016), $338,285,020 in 2017 (equivalent to 23.25% of SNPC oil sales in 2017), $513,780,005 in 2018 (equivalent to 7,411,386 barrels of oil, eight oil cargoes, or 30.22% of SNPC oil sales in 2018), $523,547,187 in 2019 (equivalent to 8,228,065 barrels of oil, 9 oil cargoes, or 32.56% of SNPC oil sales in 2019), $266,659,781 in 2020 (equivalent to 6,349,813 barrels of oil, 7 oil cargoes, or 31.61% of SNPC oil sales in 2020), $319,164,228 in 2021 (equivalent to 4,585,056 barrels of oil or 21.4% of SNPC oil sales in 2021), and $356,343,684 in 2022 (equivalent to 3,634,514 barrels of oil 13.09% of SNPC oil sales in 2022).

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

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 Record 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 via Record ID#161) and a loan for Phase 2 of the Maya-Maya International Airport Project in 2011 (captured via Record 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. As of 2014, USD 72 million had been disbursed. 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.

Staff comments

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 Record 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 Record ID#161 and Record 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. Record ID#141 and Record ID#161 were funded through export buyer's credits, however, it is unclear if all the subsidiary loans approved under the 2006 framework agreement (Record ID#60219) were buyer’s credits. 5. The precise commitment date for the Phase 2 loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that the loan was contracted in 2011 (the year in which the project's first phase was completion). This issue warrants further investigation.