China Eximbank pledges $149 million loan for Moheli Port Project

In March 2015 the head of China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), Zhang Baozheng, signed construction contracts for the small domestic port on the island of Mohèli with Comorian Minister of Transport, Ms. Bahiat Massoundi. At the meeting, feasibility studies for the port construction project were presented. This project has three phases including the construction of a protective dyke, the quay that can accommodate boats with a tonnage of 5,000 tons and an administrative area that can handle the treatment of 3,000 tons of fish per year, and offer up to 1,000 direct and indirect jobs. The sides wanted financing to come from a China Eximbank loan of $149,000,000 for the project and planned to begin construction 6 months after the initial agreement and was expected to take 2 years for completion which would place completion around May 2017. One report indicates that 85% of the loan comes from China Exim while the other 15% comes directly from the contractor (Le blog Aimons les Comores de SAID IBRAHIM). A delegation, led by Ms. Bahiat Massoundi, visited China as part of the follow-up to negotiations on the financing mechanism for the Moheli port project in July 2015. The mission met with the president and vice-president of CCCC and Exim Bank-China deputy director in charge of the concessional lending division, Mr. Zhu Ying, in the presence of the Ambassador of the Comoros in Beijing, Mahamoud Aboud. Bahiat Massoundi requested the support of the President of the CCCC from the Exim Bank for the financing of the construction project of the port of Mwali. No evidence of the commitment of China Eximbank financing was discovered. According to a 2019 MOFCOM report, the port project, which is referred to as 莫埃利岛港口, is being financed by the European Union. A 2022 statement from the Social Safeguard Manager Soidridine Abderemane indicates that the World Bank, the French Development Agency, the African Development Bank, and the Islamic Bank, among others, are also contributing financially towards the port project.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

8