Chinese Government provides RMB 204 million interest-free loan for National Assembly Building Construction Project

On October 9, 2009, Ambassador Yang Guangyu and Chad’s Minister of Foreign Relations Faki signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed an interest-free loan for the National Assembly Building Construction Project. China Ministry of Commerce was the source of funding and it committed RMB 204 million in total. This project involved the construction of a new National Assembly Building in the southeastern section of the city of N'Djaména. The building, which combines architectural design elements from China and Chad, includes more than 100 conference halls, banquet halls, meeting rooms and various offices (see: ''乍得总统参加援乍议会大厦项目奠基仪式''). It is divided into three “blocks”. The first block includes a hemicycle with 422 seats, a banquet hall with 350 seats, and eight meeting rooms for parliamentary committees (four of which have 30 seats and four of which have 40 seats). The second block is an administrative block with a ground floor and two levels; it has 75 standard offices, including six for the President of the National Assembly and his five vice-presidents. The third block consists of a building that house a high voltage electrical transformer (15,000 volts), two drinking water tanks of 33 m3 each, two pumping systems (for drinking water and fire-fighting water), a fire tank with a capacity of 3,000 m3, an emergency generator with a power of 15,000 volts, three sentry boxes, and a fence wall. The building is equipped with a security system and an advanced multimedia conference system. China Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Corporation was the contractor responsible for implementation. On December 24, 2011, the a construction contract for this project was signed in N’Djamena. Then, on February 16, 2011, a groundbreaking ceremony took place. Chadian President Deby, Prime Minister Nadingar, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and China’s Ambassador to Chad Yang Guangyu attended the ceremony (see: ''乍得总统参加援乍议会大厦项目奠基仪式''). Construction began in July 2011 and ended in August 2013 (see: ''山东高速：修路盖楼建设非洲''). On November 29, 2013, the project was officially completed and handed over to the Government of Chad (see: ''胡志强大使出席中国援乍得议会大厦项目交接仪式'').

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 席中国援乍得议会大厦项目 or 乍得议会大厦项目 or 新议会大厦 or 乍得妇女培训中心项目 or 中国援乍得议会大厦项目 or 乍得议会大厦项目. The French project title is Palais de la démocratie (Assemblée Nationale) or Le palais de la Représentation nationale du Tchad or La construction du palais de l'Assemblée nationale or Le nouveau Palais de l'Assemblée national or Palais de la Démocratie. This loan-financed project is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. Since loan terms for the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set maturity period 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 period 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

13

Number of unofficial sources

9