China Eximbank provides RMB 982.5 million buyer's credit loan for Phase 2 of Development of 1500 Housing Units Project

On September 2, 2012, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Government of Maldives signed an RMB 982,500,000 buyer's credit loan (BCL) agreement for Phase 2 of Development of 1,500 Housing Units Project (see 'ACTIVE EXTERNAL LOANS'). The loan has a 20 year maturity, according an archived Sun Online article. After the loan is fully disbursed, the Government of Maldives was to pay RMB 17.74 million ($2.3 million USD or MVR 35.5 million) yearly as interest during the grace period. By the end of the loan period in 2033, the government was to have paid $183.14 million USD (MVR2.8 billion).The loan originally dates back to 2011, when the taking of the loan was submitted to the Maldivian parliament by then-President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed for the construction of 1,500 housing units in four southern atolls, according to Sun Online. However, to the lack of loan details, the Parliament Public Accounts Committee investigated it, and discovered that some details had changed, requiring furthering probing. The details of the loan was approved on December 29, 2011, but then the government requested changes to the loan, in order to finance the construction of 704 housing units in Hulhumalé. In July 2014, the Public Accounts Committee voted to approve the changes to the loan.The project broke ground on December 9, 2014, when the President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom laid the ‎foundation stone of the 704 housing units to be constructed in Hulhumalé., as reported by the President's Office. The 1,500 housing units, which were built by contractor China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and dispersed across eight different islands across the Maldives, were officially completed and handed over on December 4, 2017. Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure of Maldives was also involved in the project. The project was intended to deal with housing shortages faced by young Maldivians. A breakdown of the 1500 housing unit locations by island, taken from Avas, is as follows:- Hulhumalé, Kaafu atoll – 704 housing units- Hithadhoo, Addu atoll – 264 housing units- Hulhumeedhoo, Addu atoll – 48 housing units- Fuvahmulah, Gnaviyani atoll – 200 housing units- Villingili, Gaafu Alif atoll – 52 housing units- Gahdhoo, Gaafu Dhaal atoll – 50 housing units- Thinadhoo, Gaafu Dhaal atoll – 120 housing units- Madaveli, Gaafu Dhaal atoll – 22 housing units- Hoadehdhoo, Gaafu Dhaal atoll – 40 housing unitsFor the Thinadhoo Island project listed above, the inauguration ceremony occurred in 2015. 80 of the 120 housing units were designated for Thinadhoo residents, 25 of the 120 housing units were allotted for people who migrated to the island, and the rest were to be sold through open bidding.Disbursements per year of the China Eximbank loan proceeds were as follows, according to Maldives government sources (and denominated in local currency MVR): - 2013: 722,137,500 MVR (according to Budget in Statistics 2015)- 2015: 408,181,393 MVR [actual] (according to Budget in Statistics 2017)- 2016: 727,400,058 MVR [actual] (according to Budget in Statistics 2018)- 2017: 269,306,723 MVR [actual] (according to Loans - Budget 2019)- 2018: 63,239,487 MVR [revised] (according to Loans - Budget 2019)- 2019: 72,174,857 MVR [budgeted] (according to Loans - Budget 2019)

Number of official sources

25

Number of unofficial sources

7