Chinese Government provides interest-free loan for Bata Radio Station Maintenance Project

On June 13, 2001 and June 18, 2001, the Chinese Government and the Government of Equatorial Guinea signed an exchange of letters related to the Bata Radio Maintenance Project. This project was funded with the proceeds from an interest-fee loan agreement that the two parties signed on December 12, 2001. The face value of this loan is unknown. However, it is known that the borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a contract between the Government of Equatorial Guinea and China Radio and Television International Economic and Technical Cooperation Corporation (CRTV or 中国广播电视国际经济技术合作总公司), which was signed on November 5, 2002. The project involved provision of technical experts to help maintain Bata Radio Station, which was constructed with financial support from the Chinese Government during the 1970s. More specifically, it involved the installation and debugging of shortwave broadcast transmission system equipment, the installation and debugging of an FM program transmission system equipment, the painting of a radio tower and the rehabilitation of some old equipment. C RTV was responsible for implementation. This project commenced on January 15, 2003 and it was completed on March 22, 2003. It passed inspection on March 26, 2003 and was officially handed over the local authorities in Equatorial Guinea on May 7, 2003.

Additional details

1. The Spanish project title is Realización del Proyecto de mantenimiento y transformación de la Radio Bata. The Chinese project title is 援赤道几内亚巴塔电台维修改造项目 or 巴塔广播电台维修项目. 2. This loan is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. 3. Since the borrowing terms of the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set maturity period to 20 years by default and grace period to 10 years by default per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity period of interest-free loans is 20 years, with a drawdown period of 5 years, grace period of 5 years, and repayment over 10 years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5 years of additional grace. 4. The contract that was signed on November 5, 2002 is known as the Contrato de Realización del Proyecto de mantenimiento y transformación de la Radio Bata de Guinea Ecuatorial.

Number of official sources

9

Number of total sources

12