China Eximbank provides RMB 400 million government concessional loan for Phase II of Concorde Residences Project (Linked to Record ID#72687)

Project narrative

On February 11, 2010, China Eximbank and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire signed a government concessional loan (GCL) agreement worth RMB 400 million (or CFA 31.25 billion) for Phase II of the Concorde Residences Project (see Record ID#58874). Then, on April 12, 2010, Government of Cote d'Ivoire ratified this loan agreement. The borrowing terms of this loan are unknown. However, it is known that the borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial contract between Société Ivoirienne de Construction et de Gestion Immobilière (SICOGI) — a state-owned housing company — and China Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC). According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), China Eximbank made 9 loan disbursements (worth CFA 14,978,360,829) between 2010 and 2014: a CFA 5,427,044,530 disbursement on September 8, 2010, a CFA 1,434,293,436 disbursement on April 16, 2011, a CFA 419,830,121 disbursement on June 21, 2012, a CFA 842,151,142 disbursement on November 28, 2012, a CFA 1,729,243,387 disbursement on March 13, 2013, a CFA 1,500,400,887 disbursement on June 10, 2013, a CFA 1,502,309,110 disbursement on September 5, 2013, a CFA 1,835,805,315 disbursement on March 18, 2014, and a CFA 287,282,901 disbursement on July 31, 2014. The Concorde Residences (Résidences Concorde or 协和住宅) site, which is located in the Abobo District of Abidjan, occupies 50 hectares and it includes a total of 2,678 affordable housing units and community facilities including shopping centers, a sports complex, a health center, places of worship, and multiple schools. Phase I involved the construction of 488 houses, while Phase II involved the construction of 2190 houses. The first phase worth 4 billion CFA was carried out and was entirely financed by SICOGI, and the first set of home buyers got their keys in June 2012. The groundbreaking ceremony for Phase II took place on July 28, 2010 but construction itself did not begin until November 2011 due to the post-electoral crisis. As of November 30, 2014, 1000 housing units (single-storey and duplex accommodations) had been constructed and the ‘finishing works’ (carpentry and painting) were underway. However, as of December 31, 2014, the housing units still lacked functional wastewater treatment connections. As of May 26, 2015, there was also no access road to the project site. Phase II was never fully completed because China Eximbank suspended disbursements in mid-2014 after disbursing only part of the face value of the loan. According to the Government of Cote d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), 48% of the face value of the loan (equal to CFA 14,978,360,829 or approximately RMB 192 million) was ultimately disbursed prior to the project suspension. In September 2017, the Director General of SICOGI announced that construction would eventually resume. Also, according to a Ministry of Economy and Finance source, there were discussions with Chinese company Huali about the Concorde Residences, but it is not clear if this project ever resumed.