ICBC pledges a TND 157 million dinar loan to the Loukil Group for the Tunisia Africa Mall Construction Project

On July 7, 2017 at the Tunis Forum, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Tunisia’s Loukil Group signed a partnership agreement regarding the construction of the Tunisia Africa Mall. ICBC agreed in principle to fully finance the cost of the construction of the mall, TNR 157.69 million dinars (€55 million EUR or $65 million USD). The Tunisia Africa Mall was planned to be a 100,000-square meter shopping center, the largest in Tunisia. It also included 95,000 square meters of parking space. It was to be constructed in the town of Raoued within the Ariana Governorate. China State Construction Engineering Corporation was responsible for construction. In July 2017, construction was expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017. This project was part of the Tunis Financial Harbour mega-project. This was latter renamed to the Tunis Bay Project in 2017. The megaproject was intended to create a offshore financial center at Tunis Bay through development such as a 18-hole world-class golf course, marina, residential and commercial districts, and a financial district to serve as a hub for financial and banking activities in North Africa. The "Tunis Financial Harbour" mega-project was scheduled to complete in late 2021. However, according to news source, the project was not up to speed as planned as of 12/2/2021 and no new estimated completion date is known.

Additional details

After extensive research into Chinese and Tunisian sources, no further information could be found regarding the financing or implementation of this project. It may have never gone through. The word "loan" is not used by any source, however, given that ICBC is a bank and it would highly unusual for it to donate such a large amount of money, AidData has assumed it was a loan.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

10