China Eximbank provides RMB 119 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of E-Governance Project (Linked to Project ID#52933, #52934, #55898)

On September 11, 2008, the Chinese Government and the Government of Cape Verde signed a concessional loan framework agreement for Phase 1 of the E-Governance Project. Then, on December 9, 2008, China Eximbank and the Government of Cape Verde signed an RMB 119,000,000 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for Phase 1 of E-Governance Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. Phase 1 involved the construction of a National Data Center in Praia, the construction of a data transfer network covering the entire nation, and the installation of 21 telepresence videoconferencing systems. The project also involved the construction of a fiber-optic backbone network using dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology on six major islands to (b) upgrade the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) capacity from 622 MB to 20 GB and (B) provide broadband access service through the construction of worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) to achieve the network coverage across Cape Verde. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for implementation. A groundbreaking ceremony for the National Data Center (佛国家数据中心) in Praia took place on March 25, 2010. The rest of the project officially began in October 2010. Works ended in early 2014 but an opening ceremony was not held until July 29, 2015. Beijing also provided a grant (captured in Project ID#52933) and a China Eximbank loan (captured in Project ID#52934) for Phase 2 of the E-Governance Project as well as an additional $5 million for a related Network Access Project (captured in Project ID#55898).

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Phase 1 of the National Data Center Project. The Chinese project title is 佛得角电子政务网项目 or 佛得角电子政务网一期项目. The Portuguese project title is Projeto e-GOV or Projecto de Governação Electrónica or Projeto de Governo Eletrônico or Projeto Infra-estrutura Tecnológica da Rede Electrónica do Estado. 2. In the database of Chinese loan commitments to African governments that SAIS-CARI released in 2020, it identifies the commitment year of the loan that supported this project as 2010. However, AidData records the loan commitment year as 2008 based on the precise loan signature date (December 9, 2008) reported to the Parliament of Cape Verde. 3. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average maturity of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Cape Verde was 19.5424 years in 2008. AidData estimates the maturity of the China Eximbank loan that supported Phase 1 of the E-Governance Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 4. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average grace period of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Cape Verde was 3.5641 years in 2008. AidData estimates the grace period of the China Eximbank loan that supported Phase 1 of the E-Governance Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 5. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average interest rate of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Cape Verde was 2% in 2008. AidData estimates the interest rate of the China Eximbank loan that supported Phase 1 of the E-Governance Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab8qt4n6jijcbhd/IDS_Average%20interest%20on%20new%20external%20debt%20commitments.xlsx?dl=0

Number of official sources

20

Number of total sources

21