Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On January 7, 2007, the Prime Minister of Senegal, Salamon McKee, announced that the Chinese Government pledged to build a national wrestling field and fix several provincial wrestling fields. Then, on February 20, 2014, the Chinese Government and the Government of Senegal signed letters of exchange related to the National Wrestling Arena Construction Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce (Bureau of International Economic Cooperation Affairs) reportedly committed RMB 290 million (approximately $42 million) for this project, and according to the Government of Senegal’s External Financing Management Platform (la Plateforme de Gestion des Financements Extérieurs du Sénégal, or PGFE), approximately 75% of the funding (equivalent to 18.341 billion CFA) came in the form of the grant and approximately 25% of the funding (equivalent to 6 billion CFA) came in the form of an interest-free loan. Record ID#53280 records the estimated face value of the grant commitment in RMB (217.5 million) and Record ID#53279 records the estimated face value of the interest-free loan commitment in RMB (72.5 million). The project involved the construction of a wrestling stadium with 20,000 seats, a weight room, an indoor parking lot with 450 spots, and an outdoor parking lot with over 1,000 spots. The venue has three floors above ground and the building height is 23.5 meters. Hunan Construction Engineering was the contractor responsible for project implementation. On April 7, 2016, a foundation stone laying ceremony was held for the stadium in Pikine, a city within the Pikine Department of the Dakar Region. The project was expected to take 28 months to complete, and it was ultimately completed and handed over to the Senegalese authorities on July 22, 2018. The French project title is Arène nationale de lutte. The Chinese project title is 竞技摔跤场项目 or 塞内加尔竞技摔跤场. More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/802003828#map=13/14.7612/-17.3988