Chinese Government provides $7.6 million interest-free loan for Presidential Palace Rehabilitation Project

On December 28, 2009, China’s Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, Yan Banghua, announced that the Chinese Government would rebuild Guinea-Bissau’s Presidential Palace (Palácio Presidencial da Guiné-Bissau or Palácio da República). The palace was destroyed during Guinea-Bissau’s 1998-1999 civil war. According to June 2018 email correspondence between AidData’s Executive Director and the Director General of the Office of the Secretary of State for Planning and Regional Integration in Guinea-Bissau, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce provided a loan worth $7,599,860 USD to the Government of Guinea-Bissau to support the Presidential Palace Rehabilitation Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce was the funding source and it administers the country’s interest-free loan program, so AidData assumes that it issued an interest-free loan in support of this project. The Presidential Palace Rehabilitation Project had two primary components: the restoration of the existing presidential palace (“the main building”) and the new construction of a new presidential advisory building in the city of Bissau. The new office building includes 31 offices, two meeting rooms, a tea room, and 4 public restrooms, with a construction area of 1,300 square meters. The new office building is also equipped with a generator room and 7 offices. The Presidential Palace covers an area of 2,471 square meters, and its main building, the Presidential Residence, covers an area of 1,171 square meters. The architectural style of the original main building was left intact. China IPPR International Engineering Co. Ltd was the contractor responsible for project design and Fujian Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd was the contractor responsible for project implementation. On October 20, 2011, Guinea-Bissau’s President and Prime Minister and China’s Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The groundbreaking ceremony was held near the Heroes’ Square in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital. Then, on March 2, 2012, the Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, Li Baojun, and the Economic and Commercial Counselor Ju Chaoqing, visited and inspected the project. At the time, the construction period was expected to be one year. As of July 2012, the main structure of the new office building had been completed, and the project was scheduled to reach completion in March 2013. The project was officially completed and handed over to the Government of Guinea-Bissau on July 6, 2013.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 几内亚比绍总统府维修项目 or 几内亚比绍总统府维修项目. The Portuguese project title is Reabilitação do Palácio da República or Projecto de reabilitação do Palácio do Presidente da República e construção do prédio em anexo. 2. Since the borrowing terms of the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set the maturity to 20 years by default and grace period to 10 years by default. per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity of interest-free loans is 20 years, with a drawdown period of 5 years, grace period of 5 years, and repayment over 10 years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5 years of additional grace.

Number of official sources

16

Number of total sources

22