Chinese Government provides SCR 20 million grant for Baie Lazare Primary School and Kindergarten Construction Project

On January 8, 2005, the Chinese Government agreed to provide financial aid to Government of Seychelles for the Baie Lazare Primary School and Kindergarten Construction Project. This project was implemented in three phases and it involved the construction of a primary school and kindergarten within the Baie Lazare district on Mahé Island. China State Construction Engineering Corporation was the contractor responsible for implementation. The first phase involved the construction of the crèche and a hall. The second and third phases included the building of classrooms, a staff room, a dining room, as well as other facilities. An official groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction took place on February 13, 2007. By December 2008, the first phase was complete and the second phase was wrapping up. The school was officially inaugurated on October 1, 2009 in celebration of China's National Day. The Baie Lazare Primary School and Kindergarten has the capacity to accommodate 300 pupils and their teachers. The value of the grant commitment for phase 1 of this project is known (SCR 20 million). However, the value of the grant commitment for Phase 2 and 3 is unknown. Therefore, for the time being, AidData relies on SCR 20 million as an estimate of the grant commitment for this project.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 拉扎尔湾小学校及幼儿园 or 有格拉斯小学和幼儿园项目 or 塞舌尔拉扎尔湾小学项目. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a $1 million China Eximbank loan commitment for this project. However, in May 2020 email correspondence with AidData’s Executive Director, Seychelles’ Ministry of Finance provided a list of loans that the Government of Seychelles had contracted with Chinese Government institutions and this list did not include any loans for the Baie Lazare Primary School and Kindergarten Construction Project. Therefore, AidData has coded this project as grant-financed rather than loan-financed. The grant proceeds that supported this project may have been drawn from the economic and technical cooperation agreement (ETCA) that is captures in Project ID#55768.

Number of official sources

8

Number of total sources

13