China Eximbank provides $94.8 million preferential buyer's credit for Phases 3 and 4 of Rural Grid Extension Project (Linked to Project ID#33216, #62326, #62333)

On December 31, 2014, China Eximbank and the Government of Cambodia's Ministry of Finance signed a $94,862,727 preferential buyer's credit (PBC) agreement for Phases 3 and 4 of the Rural Grid Expansion Project. The PBC carried the following borrowing terms: a 20-year maturity, a 7-year grace period, and a 2% interest rate. The proceeds of the PBC were to be used by the borrower to partially finance an EPC (commercial) contract between Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) — the country’s state-owned electricity utility — and China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC), which was signed on November 13, 2014. The purpose of the third and fourth phase of the project, which covered 11 Cambodian provinces, was to install a 1288 km medium-voltage transmission line; install an underwater cable; construct a 115/35kV Chey Sen substation in Preah Vihear Province; and install a 220 km, 115kV transmission line that connects the 115/35kV Chey Sen substation in Preah Vihear Province to the country’s border with Laos. CHMC was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. The EPC contract went into force on December 2, 2015 and the project was expected to take 36 months to complete. However, it was ultimately completed on November 30, 2017, when CHMC received a Completion Acceptance Certificate from EDC. Phases 3 and 4 were completed one year ahead of the schedule.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 柬埔寨农村电网扩建工程三期、四期. 2. In the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020, it identifies the face value of the loan that supported Phases 3 and 4 as $90 million. AidData relies on the face value ($94,862,727) that is recorded in 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). 3. 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), identifies the interest rate of the loan that supported this project as 0.2% and the grace period as 20 years. However, these appear to be typographical errors, as the loan details specified for linked projects #33216, #62326, #62333 are 20 year maturity, 7 year grace period, and a 2% annual interest rate. 4. China Eximbank also financed Phases 1, 2, 5, and 6 of the Rural Grid Extension Project. Phase 1 is captured via Project ID#32216. Phase 2 is captured via Project ID#62326. Phases 5 and 6 are captured via Project ID#62333.

Number of official sources

9

Number of total sources

12