China Eximbank agrees in principle to provide RMB 4.2 billion loan for Medium and Low Voltage Electricity Network Improvement Project

On November 2, 2018, China Eximbank agreed in principle (through an MOU) to provide an RMB 4.2 billion ($600 million) credit line to the Dominican Corporation of State Electric Companies (La Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales (CDEEE) — a state corporation formed in 2001 to direct the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy in Dominican Republic — for a Power Distribution Upgrade Project at the Punta Catalina Power Plant. The loan reportedly carries the following borrowing terms: a 2% interest rate, a 4 year grace period, and a 25-year maturity. A $40,850,908 disbursement was scheduled for 2020; however, according to the Government of the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Finance, no disbursement took place in 2020. Also, as of October 2020, the loan agreement had still not been approved by the legislature of the Dominican Republic. The purpose of the project was to improve the medium and low voltage electricity transmission network that evacuates power from the Punta Catalina Power Plant. This was expected to reduce energy losses by 28%, which would save the Dominican Republic an estimated $100 million per year. As of March 2022, AidData was not able to identify any evidence of project implementation.

Additional details

1. The Spanish project title is Proyecto de Mejoramiento de Redes de Media y Baja Tensió or Central Termoeléctrica Punta Catalina. 2. The USAID Mission in the Dominican Republic informed AidData in February 2019 that the project under consideration was the Punta Catalina power plant. 3. The World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS) records three loan commitments from ‘China’ in 2001, 2002, and 2005, respectively. However, these appear to be loan commitments from Taiwan. The DRS does not record any loan commitments from China between 2018 and 2020. This issue warrants further investigation. 4. In the China's Overseas Development Finance Database produced by the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, a 2018 China Eximbank loan worth $600 million for a 'Electrical Distribution System, Upgrade' project in the Dominican Republic. AidData has not yet independently identified any official evidence that a loan agreement with China Eximbank was finalized. As such, Project ID#54799 is status-coded as "Pipeline: Pledge" rather than "Pipeline: Commitment" for the time being. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

19

Number of total sources

39