[Cancelled] Chinese Government provides TOP 55 million grant for Implementation of Phase 2 of Tonga High School Reconstruction Project (Linked to Project ID#68391)

On October 1, 2000, Tonga’s leading secondary school — Tonga High School — was destroyed in a fire. The school’s 1,060 students and teachers continued classes in the ruins of the school, and in tents before moving in October 2001 to a temporary school built at Old Vaiola, thanks to a $1.2 million grant from the New Zealand, Australian and French governments. In 2002, the Chinese Government provided an RMB 33 million grant to the Government of Tonga for Phase 1 of the Tonga High School Reconstruction Project (captured via Project ID#39243). The purpose of the project was to reconstruct the Tonga High School complex in the city of Nukuʻalofa. The project involved the construction of six buildings (including one three-story block and five two story blocks), a schoolyard, roads, a fire reservoir (including an underground conservation pool), and water and power supply utilities. Three of the buildings were designed to house 54 classrooms. The project also involved the construction of a separate administration office and reading room, as well as two other blocks for special classrooms for science laboratory and industrial arts. The total floor space of the new school was 7,300 square meters. Nanjing Architectural Design Institute was responsible for designing the school, while China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation was responsible for the construction of the school. A Chinese team provided a geological survey of the site to ensure favorable conditions for construction. Then, on October 9, 2003, a groundbreaking ceremony took place. Somewhere between 86 and 110 Chinese workers were involved in the construction process. The school was completed and handed over in April 6, 2005. Tonga High School students moved into their permanent facility on July 2, 2005. Then, on February 6, 2006, the Chinese Government donated $590,000 worth of furniture and equipment to Tonga High School, including 1710 sets of tables & chairs for students, 34 sets of office furniture, 142 sets of bookshelves, and 75 sets of teacher’s tables and experiment tables (as captured via Project ID#39228). China’s Ambassador to Tonga Hu Yeshun and the Education Minister of Tonga Tevita Palefau officiated at the handover ceremony. The Chinese Government also dispatched a Chinese language teacher to Tonga High School from 2003-2005 (as captured via Project ID#39239). Shortly after Phase 1 was completed, discussions were underway about a possible second phase for the construction of an indoor gymnasium, an outdoor rugby field, four outdoor netball courts, an aquatics center, a lawn bowling field, a tennis court, a hall for the performing arts, and accommodations for teachers (with a total area of 9,180 square meters). In April 2006, the Chinese Government and the Government of Tonga signed an agreement regarding Phase 2 of the Tonga High School Reconstruction Project. A team from Hunan Provincial Institute of Architectural Design conducted an initial set of geological surveys and completed them on or around September 16, 2006 (as recorded in Project ID#62983). They confirmed that the proposed project site was stable and suitable for construction. Then, after several years of inactivity, the Government of Tonga revealed in its 2012 Budget Report that the Chinese Government had provide a TOP 13 million grant for the design of Phase 2 (as recorded in Project ID#65917). In October 2012, Tonga agreed to host the 2019 Pacific Games and the sports facilities at Tonga High School were intended to be one of the locations for the game's events. In December 2016, the Chinese Government and the Government of Tonga signed an exchange of letters, committing grant funding for Phase 2 of the Tonga High School Reconstruction Project. Then, in March 2017, a Chinese design team visited Tonga for 27 days to finalize plans for the project. The team was led by a Mr Zi Ling, and met with the Chairman of Tonga 2019 Pacific Games Organizing Committee, Lord Sevele, working out of the Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee (TASNOC). On April 15, 2017, the Chinese Government and the Government of Tonga signed as project implementation agreement, which provided TOP 55 million ($24.8 million USD) of grant funding for Phase 2 (as recorded in Project ID#49242). The grant proceeds were apparently drawn from at least two Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreements (ETCAs) that the two governments signed on November 23, 2015 and December 8, 2017 (as captured in Project ID#49235 and ID#62890). Only a month later (May 2017), Tonga withdrew its offer to host the 2019 Pacific Games, citing that sports development was no longer of the government's priorities. However, the Chinese Government-financed design plans were finalized in November 2017 and the Chinese Government reaffirmed on December 8, 2017 that it would provide TOP 57.5 million of grant funding for the implementation of Phase 2 (as recorded in Project ID#62890). By the time the Government of Tonga published its 2018-2019 Budget Report, the Tongan authorities had revised their cost estimate of the sporting facilities to $70 million USD, but no additional financial commitments appear to have been made to cover the additional project cost. As of December 2020, Phase 2 construction activities had not yet begun. Nor is there any record of a Chinese Government grant disbursement for Phase 2 from 2015 onwards.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 援汤加中学项目 or 援汤首都中学项目. Some sources refer to Tonga High School as 'Tonga Capital Middle School' or 'Tonga Middle School.' Phase 2 of the Tonga High School Reconstruction Project is also known as the Tonga High School Sports Complex Project and the Tonga High School Sports Complex for 2019 Pacific Games Project. AidData has status-coded the grant commitment from April 15, 2017 as a canceled transaction (via Project ID#49242) since it was likely contingent upon Tonga's hosting of the 2019 Pacific Games, which Tonga ultimately chose not to do. The Chinese Government’s revised grant commitment of TOP 57.5 million from December 8, 2017 is captured in Project ID#62890. In the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020, it identifies a $57 million China Eximbank loan in 2017 for the Tonga High School Sports Complex for 2019 Pacific Games Project (i.e. Phase 2 of the Tonga High School Reconstruction Project). This appears to be an error. None of the official sources that AidData has reviewed (including public reporting of outstanding public debts by Tonga’s Ministry of Finance) provide any evidence that the Government of Tonga contracted a China Eximbank loan for this project. However, many official sources do refer to Chinese Government grant commitments for the project.

Number of official sources

13

Number of total sources

34