Power China offers to build the Lungi-Freetown Bridge for Sierra Leone
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This project is not recommended for use in creating aggregated sums. See the documentation for more information about this criteria.
Summary
Funding agency [Type]
Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) [State-owned Policy Bank]
Recipient
Sierra Leone
Sector
Transport and storage (Code: 210)
Flow type
Loan
Level of public liability
Central government debt
Infrastructure
Yes
Category
Project lifecycle
Description
On August 30, 2018, the Sierra Leonean Government reported that President Julius Maada Bio engaged the Power China International Group Ltd. (Power China) to construct the Lungi-Freetown Bridge, which was intended to connect the Sierra Leonean capital to its international airport. After this meeting, PowerChina International was supposed to revisit Sierra Leone in October 2018 to further discuss details of this project such as financing, feasibility studies and a technical meeting on the design. In 2018, it was reported that the financing of the project would be through "off balance sheet financing"; however, details of the Chinese financing for the project beyond this are unknown. No project progress was made in the years following this pledge: however, as of August 2021, Sierra Leone resurrected the project and was set to invest USD $2bn to link its capital city Freetown to the country’s only international airport, through construction of a 7km bridge. At this time, a project tender ceremony was also held for the project. The proposed bridge would be connecting Lungi, in the northwest of Sierra Leone, with the capital city Freetown, in the Western Area urban.
Additional details
Number of official sources
1
Number of total sources
4
Details
Cofinanced
No
Direct receiving agencies [Type]
Government of Sierra Leone [Government Agency]
Implementing agencies [Type]
Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) [State-owned Company]