Chinese Government provides grant for Rural School Construction Project

Project narrative

At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese government put forward eight measures to assist Africa, including the construction of 100 rural schools for African countries. At the request of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, the Chinese Government agreed to build two rural schools for Guinea-Bissau. Then, in October 2007, the two governments signed an exchange of letters regarding the Rural School Construction Project. The monetary value of the grant from China’s Ministry of Commerce that supported this project is unknown. The project was originally designed to support the construction of two schools in the provinces of Cacheu and Bafatá. Each school — with a construction area of approximately 1,100 square meters — would be able to accommodate 300 children. However, MOFCOM ultimately support the construction of a third school it the city of Bissau. China Henan International Cooperation Group Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for project design and implementation, and China Youfa International Engineering Design and Consulting Company was responsible for the construction supervision. Construction began in May 2008 and ended in January 2009.