Chinese Government provides RMB 97.1 million loan — via ETCA — for National Road No. 51 (NR 51) Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#61174)

On October 13, 2016, China Eximbank and the Government of Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance signed an RMB 252,045,640 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the National Road No. 51 (NR 51) Construction Project (captured in Project ID#61174). The GCL carried the following terms: 20-year maturity, 7-year grace period, and 2% interest rate. On the same day, the Chinese Government issued a second loan to the Government of Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance — through an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) — worth RMB 97,135,600 for the same project (as captured in this project). It carried a 20-year maturity, 7-year grace period, and was interest-free. The proceeds from these two loans were used to finance an EPC contract with China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC). The purpose of the project was to construct a 37.96 km segment of National Road No. 51 (NR 51) that connects National Road No. 5 (NR 5) and National Road No. 4 (NR 4) and leads directly to Sihanoukville Port. The 12-meter wide road segment is located in the central-southern part of Cambodia at the boundary of Kampong Speu Province and Kandal Province. CRBC was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 14, 2017 and the project was expected to reach completion on December 31, 2019. It was ultimately completed on August 12, 2020.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the National Road No. 51 (NR 51) Expansion Project. NR 51 is also known as the Udong-Thnal Totoeng Road. The Chinese project title is 51号国家公路 or 柬埔寨51号公路项目. The Khmer project title is ផ្លូវជាតិលេខ៥១. 2. The Government of Cambodia’s aid and debt information management system, which is maintained on behalf of all ministries and agencies of the Royal Government of Cambodia by the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board (CRDB) of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) records the interest rate as 2%; however, this appears to be a typographical error, as given that the RMB 97,135,600 loan (captured in this project) was funded through an ETCA, it was likely an interest-free loan, which is also confirmed in several sources (See: 31 documents to be signed between Cambodia and China (Oct 2016)).

Number of official sources

14

Number of total sources

18