Chinese Government provides RMB 100 million interest-free loan for the Nouakchott Stormwater Drainage System Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#56911 and Record ID#36190)

Project narrative

According to the Government of Mauritania’s Development Assistance Database (DAD), the Chinese Government and the Government of Mauritania signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) on January 1, 2015 which committed an RMB 100 million loan for the Nouakchott Stormwater Drainage System Construction Project. This loan carried the following terms: 20 year maturity, 10 year grace period, and 0% interest rate. The Chinese Government also provided an RMB 100 million grant — through an ETCA that was signed on December 17, 2014 — to support this project. The total cost of the Nouakchott Stormwater Drainage System Construction Project was RMB 280 million and the Chinese Government fully financed the project. However, it is not known if the remaining RMB 80 million was covered through a Chinese Government grant, loan, or some combination of the two. Record ID#53448 captures the RMB 100 million interest-free loan. Record ID#56911 captures the RMB 100 million grant. Record ID#36190 captures the residual RMB 80 million. This project involved the construction of a concrete rainwater collection culvert with a total length of 31.5 kilometers, a reinforced steel rainwater pipeline of 13.6 kilometers, and four rainwater pumps in the low-lying areas of Nouakchott (specifically, Ksar, Tevragh-Zeina, El Mina and Sabkha). Its ultimate purpose was to solve the problems of stagnant water in low-lying areas and waterlogging in the rainy season. China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CTCE Group), which is also known as China Railway Fourth Group Co. (CREC4), is the contractor responsible for implementation. Upon completion, it was envisaged that this stormwater drainage system would allow pumping of a total quantity of 225,000 m3 per day, allowing the absorption of precipitation of 50 mm in less than 5 hours. Construction began on November 23, 2015. On November 30, 2018, the completion ceremony was held in Nouakchott. On January 29, 2019, the project was officially handed over to the local authorities in Mauritania.