China Eximbank provides RMB 117.7 million government concessional loan for Rarotonga Water Ring Main Upgrade Project

On August 30, 2012, China, New Zealand, and the Cook Islands agreed to upgrade the water supply network in Rarotonga. The ‘Cook Islands Water Partnership’ (‘Te Mato Vai’) was announced at the Pacific Islands Forum as a joint statement by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Cui, Cook Islands PM Henry Tuakeu Puna, and NZ Prime Minister John Key. Then, in December 2012, China Eximbank and the Government of the Cook Islands signed an RMB 117.7 million (18.7 million USD or 22.8 million NZD) government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Rarotonga Water Ring Main Upgrade Project. The GCL carries the following borrowing terms: a 2% interest rate, a 20-year maturity, and a 5-year grace period. The loan’s final maturity date is December 2032. The loan’s outstanding amount was RMB 24,638,000 as of September 2019 and RMB 22,589,000 as of December 2019. The purpose of the project is to lay 26 km water ring mains around the island. The project was implemented in two stages. Stage 1 involved replacing the inner and outer ring mains and cross mains, and then connecting the new ring mains to the rest of the existing pipe network. Stage 2 of the project involved upgrading 10 of the 12 existing water intakes around Rarotonga. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) was the contractor responsible for implementation. The project officially commenced on February 20, 2014. Stage 1 was completed in December 2016 by CCECC. In June 2017, a 12-month ‘defect liability period,’ to check CCECC's work, commenced. Testing was carried out by an independent third party, Opus International Consultants Ltd., and CCECC agreed to rectify any defects found at cost. The project was officially completed and handed over to the local authorities on February 16, 2017.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Te Mato Vai-Rarotonga Water Ring Main Upgrade Project. The Chinese project tittle is 中方援建库克群岛供水项目 or 库克群岛供水项目 or 拉罗汤加岛上的供水管道升级改造项目. 2. The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020.

Number of official sources

21

Number of total sources

46