Chinese Government provides RMB 171 million grant for Wanica Hospital Construction Project

In 2011, the Chinese Government pledged to fund the Wanica Hospital Construction Project. On 2 January 2015, the Chinese Government and the Government of Suriname signed an exchange of notes regarding the construction of Wanica Hospital. The Chinese Government reportedly committed RMB 171 million of grant funding for this project. The total estimated cost of the project is RMB 194.4 million ($29.4 million). This project involved the construction of 180-bed comprehensive hospital in Lelydorp -- the capital city of Wanica District -- with a total construction area of 12,365 square meters. See Google Maps source for exact location coordinates. The 23th Metallurgical Construction Group Co., Ltd. of Minmetals was the contractor responsible for project implementation. On 28 June 2017, construction began. On 7 February 2020, the Wanica Hospital Construction Project was completed. The hospital is expected to be fully operational by April 2020.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 援苏里南医院项目. Dutch language sources refer to this project as Wanica 'ziekenhuis' (hospital). It is also referred to as the "Agreement on Implementation of Grant Assistance Project of the Hospital in Suriname." Some sources refer to this project as being funded through interest-free loans and others refer to it as being supported by grant funding. We rely on the more recent sources that classify this project as being grant-funded. It seems as though the financial arrangements for this project may have been renegotiated such that the project was ultimately supported via grant funding. It is also noteworthy that there is no record in Suriname's debt register of this project being supported through an interest-free loan.

Number of official sources

15

Number of total sources

27