China Eximbank agrees to provide loan for Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Renovation Project (Linked to projects #1314, #1334, and #61034)

On February 5, 2007 on an official tour across Africa, Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to provide an RMB 1 billion concessional loan facility to be used at the discretion of the Government of Namibia (recorded in project #1314). The following borrowing terms would apply to subsidiary loans obtained through this facility: a 4.27% interest rate, a 15 year maturity, and a 5 year grace period. Then, in December 2007, China Eximbank and the Government of Namibia signed an RMB 1 billion concessional loan framework agreement, which identified several projects that would be funded according to a consistent set of terms and conditions. This project records the committed loan for the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Renovation Project. These projects reportedly included an RMB 300 million loan for the Modern Customs Scanning Equipment Acquisition Project (recorded in project #1241), an RMB 44 million loan for the Electronics Document and Record Management Systems (EDRMS) Project (recorded in project #1242), a $16.4 million loan for road construction in Eiseb Block Phase I (recorded in project #61037), and a $748,357 loan for Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) laboratories (recorded in project #61032). An additional RMB 645 million was reportedly set aside for three projects: Phase 2 of the Northern Railway Line Extension Project (recorded in project #1334), the Oshakati State Hospital Renovation Project (recorded in project #61034), and the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Renovation Project (recorded in this project). For the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Renovation Project, the facilities of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation were renovated and expanded, as the facilities were built during the colonial era. As the breakdown of the financing between these three projects is unknown, the RMB 645 million committed for the three projects is recorded in project #1334. This framework agreement was signed by China’s Ambassador to Namibia Ren Xiaoping and Nambia’s Minister of Finance Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila. However, in July 2009, Namibia’s Permanent Secretary of Finance Calle Schlettwein announced that he had notified the Chinese Government that the borrowing terms of the RMB 1 billion loan facility (recorded in project #1314) were too financially onerous for the Government of Namibia. He told a local newspaper that 'We did not suspend any agreements, we just told them that the terms were too burdensome for our financial situation.’

Additional details

AidData has coded this project as a pledge rather than a commitment as it is not clear that a subsidiary loan agreement was ever signed for the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Renovation Project.

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

5