[Sino-Congolese Programme] China Eximbank provides $29.9 million loan for Kisangani Road Rehabilitation and Modernization Project (Linked to Record ID#450)

Project narrative

In 2008, China Eximbank issued a $3.003 billion general buyer's credit loan to Sino–Congolais des Mines (Sicomines SARL) — a joint venture — to finance infrastructure projects in the DRC (as captured via Record ID#450). All subsidiary borrowings under the (government-guaranteed) general buyer's credit loan agreement were to be repaid with revenues from mining projects managed by Sicomines SARL. Each subsidiary loan carried a maturity of 25 years, a grace period of 10 years, and an interest rate of 6-month LIBOR plus a 1% margin (or 3.839% at the time of the agreement). All infrastructure projects supported through the general buyer's credit loan were part of the so-called “Sino-Congolese Programme." One of the subsidiary loans issued as part of the 'Sino-Congolese Programme' was a $29,914,469.02 loan for the Kisangani Road Rehabilitation and Modernization Project. The loan ultimately achieved a disbursement rate of 100%. The project involved the rehabilitation and modernization of 10.315 km of roads in the city of Kisangani within Tshopo province, including the 2 km Route n ° 1 (Colonel Tshatshi Avenue), the 6.015 km Route 2 (Simi-Simi Avenue); the 0.3 km Route 3 (Mobutu 1 Boulevard), the 1.26 km Route n ° 4 (Mobutu 2 Boulevard), the 0.75 km Route 5 (Aokolo Avenue), and the 0.6 km Route 6 (Maman Yemo Avenue). CREC 7 — a subsidiary of China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) — was the contractor responsible for project implementation. It was awarded a $14,957,234.51 contract (ID#ACGT/DG/018/2015) on August 17, 2015. The contract was subsequently amended to include $2,436,660.39 for Route Kisangani Route 1, $9,823,215.48 for Route Kisangani Route 2 (PK0+000-PK5+715), $299,057.97 for Route Kisangani Route 3 (CK0+000-CK0+290), $1,682,450.28 for Route Kisangani Route 4, $563,699.02 for Route Kisangani Route Kokolo, and $152,151.37 for Route Kisangani Route Maman Yemo. Then, on November 3, 2016, construction began. This project was provisionally accepted on December 20, 2018 and completed on March 11, 2020. Its originally scheduled completion date was December 19, 2018.