ICBC pledges loan for sugar factory in Gorgol

During the No.5 Conference of High-level Dialogue between Chinese and African Leaders and Business Communities in Johannesburg 2015, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Government of Mauritania signed a financing framework agreement for a sugar plant in Mauritania. The financing framework agreement identified a possible ICBC loan for the Mauritanian Sugar and Derivatives Company (Comasud) Sugar Project. Then, in October 2017, Chinese state-owned company Hunan Construction Engineering Group Corporation signed a contract with the Mauritanian Sugar Company to implement the refinery sugar plant project in the province of Gorgol. The total cost of the project is about $380 million. Comasud will cover 15% of the cost. The remaining 85% of financing will be completed through bank financing, fund support, and strategic partners. The project construction investment is about $340 million, of which the sugar factory project investment is US$199 million and the agricultural project investment is US$142 million. The project involves planning and development of a sugarcane area, construction and operation of sugar production line, and other activities. Upon completion, it is envisaged that the plant cultivate 8000 hectares of sugarcane, with an annual output of about 900,000 tons of sugarcane, an annual output of 100,000 tons of raw sugar, and 97,300 tons of refined sugar. As of 2019, the loan for this project was reportedly still in negotiation between the Mauritanian government and the ICBC. China Land International Engineering Co., Ltd. and Hunan ConstructIng Engineering Croup Corporation jointly agreed to undertake this project as a consortium

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5

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7