Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On November 23, 2004, China Eximbank and the Government of Egypt signed a preferential loan framework agreement regarding the National Polyester Factory Refurbishment Project. Then, on November 20, 2005, the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) and the Government of Egypt signed an RMB 130,020,220 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the National Polyester Factory Refurbishment Project. The GCL agreement, which was signed by Li Ruogu of China Eximbank and Mahmoud Mohieldin of Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation, carried the following borrowing terms: a 20 year maturity, a 5 year grace period, and a 2% interest rate. The borrower was to use the proceeds of the loan to fully finance a $16.3 million commercial contract with China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation Co., Ltd. (HQCEC Co.) and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation, which was signed in 2004. The purpose of the project was to refurbish the National Polyester Factory — owned by the Egyptian Cotton & Textile Industries Holdings Co. — in the city of Kafr Al-Dawar (كفر الدوار) within Buheira Governorate. The project commenced in May 2006. The refurbished factory was put into use on November 15, 2009. It was officially inaugurated in May 2010. The project allowed the National Polyester Factory to begin using PTA as a raw material with an annual capacity of 44,000 tons with technologies provided by HQCEC Co. Before the project was completed in 2010, the Egyptian National Polyester Factory and Misrayon, both owned by the Egyptian Cotton & Textile Industries Holdings Co, were merged under the name Misrayon & Polyester Fiber Co. in order to increase polyester fiber development.
Staff comments
This project is also known as the 40,000 T/A Multi-products Fiber Plant Polyester Project. The Chinese project title is 寰球公司埃及聚酯项目 or 的埃棉纺控股公司下属的聚酯厂改造项目 or 的聚酯厂改造项目 or 款的聚酯厂改造 or 的埃及布海拉省卡菲达沃尔聚酯项目. The Arabic project title is ا تأهيلمصنع البوليستر التابع لشركة مصر للألياف. The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. SAIS-CARI identifies the status of this loan as an official commitment (‘signed’). AidData has status-coded it as a completed loan/project based on the fact that the refurbished factory was put into use on November 15, 2009 and officially inaugurated in May 2010. Although some official sources identify the location of the Egyptian National Polyester Factory as the city of Alexandria, the factory is actually located 23 km to the south of Alexandria in the city of Kafr Al-Dawar.