Chinese Government provides RMB 14.57 million grant — via 2010 and 2011 ETCA — for the Casavalle School Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#68916, #41189, and #41190)

In 2016, the Chinese Government pledged to help the Government of Uruguay finance the Casavalle School Construction Project. Then, on October 18, 2016, the two governments signed letters of exchange regarding the Casavalle School Construction Project. The Chinese Government agreed to provide RMB 14,570,000 (~$2.368 million) of grant funding to support the implementation of the project. These funds were drawn from an August 2010 Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) (captured via Project ID#68916) and a June 2011 ETCA (captured via Project ID#41189 and #41190). Then, on November 29, 2017, the Deputy Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic and President of the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation (Agencia Uruguaya de Cooperación International or AUCI), Juan Andrés Roballo, and the Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Uruguay, Zhou Quan, signed a project implementation agreement. The purpose of the project was to construct a public elementary school in the Barrio Borro of Casavalle, a locality of Montevideo. China Railway 17th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. and Tianli (Beijing) Project Management & Consulting Co., Ltd. were the contractors responsible for project implementation. Uruguay's National Administration for Public Education (Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, ANEP) was the Uruguayan government agency responsible for the organization, coordination and administration of implementation. Construction began on November 1, 2018 and the construction period was originally expected to last for one year (estimated project completion date: November 1, 2019). It was ultimately completed and opened for use on February 11, 2020. A provisional project completion (delivery) certificate was issued on February 26, 2020. The new school has a capacity of 300 students, 12 educational spaces (nine classrooms and three workshops), offices for teachers and administration, a cafeteria for 300 people and that also served as a multifunctional room, reading rooms, sports field, toilets, and warehouses in a space of more than 1,700 m2. Construction also included paths and public accesses and reforestation outside. This educational center was planned to be added to the School No. 319 (Escuela Nº 319) that operates in the neighborhood, which has an enrollment of seven hundred students. It is now known as the ‘People's Republic of China’ School.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 乌蒙市小学项目. The Spanish project title is Construcción de una escuela de tiempo completo en el barrio Casavalle, Montevideo. 2. Given that breakdown of the financing between the August 2010 ETCA captured via Project ID#68916 and the June 2011 ETCA captured via Project ID#41189 and/or Project ID#41190, this project (ID#54986) captures all committed financing. 3. For the June 2011 financing specifically, there were two ETCAs signed; an interest-free loan of $1.6 million USD (Project ID#41190) and a grant of $4.6 million USD (Project ID#41189). It is unclear which ETCA was used to finance the construction of the educational center and how much financing was used; for the time being, AidData has linked both to this project. 4. As this is an ETCA, which is a financing mechanism specific to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), AidData has coded MOFCOM as the specific Chinese Government institution responsible for the provision of funding. 5. The November 29, 2017 project implementation agreement can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/s/0a74sacvuzcp08c/mrree_1363.pdf?dl=0. 6. The project completion (delivery) certificate can be accessed in its entirety via https://medios.presidencia.gub.uy/legal/2020/resoluciones/07/mrree_93.pdf.

Number of official sources

13

Number of total sources

17