Chinese Government provides 2 billion CFAF grant for Presidential Palace Expansion Project

Project narrative

On September 21, 2005, the Director of the Office of the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning of Mali and the Director of the Contracting Department of Qingdao Construction Group Corporation (由中国青岛建设集团) signed an implementation contract for the Presidential Palace Expansion Project (总统府扩建项目) in the Malian capital Bamako. The Chinese Government reportedly committed 2 billion CFA francs of grant funding for this project. Qingdao Construction Group, the contractor, is responsible for constructing the three-story office building covering 7,093 square meters. Construction was delayed due to the French-African Summit, but officially started on February 25, 2006 and handed over on December 1, 2007. Between and November 12-18, 2006, representatives from Shanghai Construction Group conducted a mid-term quality inspection of the project, as well as a follow-up completion inspection on August 11-23, 2007, followed by the signing of an internal completion acceptance report.