Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On January 20, 2012 and February 3, 2012, the Chinese Ambassador to Lesotho and Lesotho’s Minister of Finance signed an exchange of letters to renovate the entire Manthabiseng National Convention Center in Maseru. Then, on December 6, 2013, a project implementation agreement worth RMB 74.7 million (approximate M150 million or $11.84 million) was signed between Liu Huabo, Counselor of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Lesotho, and Lebohang Phooko, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation of Lesotho. The funding for the project was partially drawn from the proceeds of an $8 million interest free loan agreement that the Chinese Government and the Government of Lesotho signed on June 27, 2012 (see ETCA #71734). The Chinese Government — through the Ministry of Commerce — appears to have covered the remaining project costs with an additional interest-free loan (or possibly a grant). This convention center renovation project covered the main lobby, 800-seat auditorium, 200-seat meeting room, 70-seat meeting room, multi-media meeting room, and a partition meeting room. The scope of renovation included waterproofing of the roof, decoration of both inside and outside walls, replacement of AC system, improvement of the water and drainage systems, and installation of electrical equipment and necessary furniture. Yanjian Construction Group Co. was the contractor responsible for implementation. The project commenced on December 23, 2013 and it passed final inspection by the funder (China Ministry of Commerce) in September 2015. The renovated center was officially handed over to the Government of Lesotho on January 20, 2016.
Staff comments
1.This project is also known as the Manthabiseng National Convention Center Maintenance Project. The Chinese project title is 莱索托国家会议中心维修项目 or 承建的援莱索托国家会议中心维修项目 or 援莱索托国家会议中心维修项目. 2. Since the borrowing terms of the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set the maturity to 20 years by default and grace period to 10 years by default, per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity of interest-free loans is 20 years, with a drawdown period of 5 years, grace period of 5 years, and repayment over 10 years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5 years of additional grace. 3. The Chinese Government originally financed the construction of this 6500 square-meter facility during the mid-1990s with an interest-free loan, which it subsequently wrote-off (see Record ID#913). The Chinese Government also funded repairs to the center in 2005 (see Record ID#71732). The interest-free loan that supported the renovation of the center was also written-off (see Record ID#55890). 4. This record has been marked as having evidence of financial distress because it was subject to debt forgiveness captured in record #55890.