China Eximbank provides $700 million USD loan for Phase II of the Khartoum International Airport Construction Project (Linked to #85332)

On 8 July 2013, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and Sudan Airport Holdings Co. Ltd. (SAHL) signed a Financing and EPC (F+EPC) contract worth $700 million USD for Phase II of the Khartoum International Airport Construction Project. Then, on 17 January 2014, CHEC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pledging to obtain financing from China Eximbank for at least $680 million USD. Then, on 16 December 2014, China Eximbank and the Sudan Ministry of Finance signed the final concessional loan agreement worth $700 million USD for Phase II. This loan reportedly carried the following terms: 20-year maturity, 5-year grace period, and 2.5% interest rate. The first drawdown of the loan took place in May 2016. The F+EPC contract signed in July 2013 stipulated that CHEC would complete the project within 40 months. The project involves the construction of two 400 meter runways, with a total area of 79 square kilometers. The project also involves the construction of an international hotel with 300 rooms, a conference center, a business center and a mall of 8,000 square meters. According to the Turkey based construction firm Summa, the project was to be completed in less than 36 months. Construction was initially set to begin in 2015; however, the implementation was delayed and CHEC was removed from the project for unknown reasons. According to the Global Construction Review article, Summa, a Turkish company, is now implementing Phase 2 of the project, which began in January 2019. The China Eximbank loan was almost certainly conditioned on CHEC carrying out the project, so this $700 million USD loan was probably cancelled as well. It is unclear how much was disbursed before cancellation (see Project #85332).

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 席喀土穆新国际机场项目. The Arabic project title is المرحله الثانية من مشروع مطار الخرطوم الدولي الجديد. It is also called the KNIA Project. The transaction amount is not totally clear. Some sources, both official and unofficial, say the Phase II EPC contract was $700 million USD and others say it was $680 million USD. Some sources say the China Eximbank loan for Phase II was also $700 or $680 million USD. AidData relies on what CHEC and SAHL reported, which is that both were worth $700 million USD. JSB Market Research (see source ID 118873) reported that the January 2014 contract was for phase II as well as "ongoing preparatory works" for phase I. Moreover, they say that "In July 2015, the technical committee of the cabinet economic development sector approved the loan agreement of US$700 million for financing the project. Council of Ministers approved loan agreement of US$665 million that was signed between the Ministry of Finance, and the Chinese Export-Import Bank." JSB also claims that China Eximbank signed a loan agreement for phase III in June 2016. None of this is confirmed by official sources.

Number of official sources

15

Number of total sources

28