Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In 2013, China Development Bank and the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) signed a $16.408 million loan agreement for the Athoke-Pathein Transmission Line and Substation Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. The purpose of the project was to construct a 230KV power transmission line — that measures 30.25 miles in length — from the Pathein (Kan Kone or ပုသိမ်မြို့) substation to the Athoke substation. Pathein substation is located in Kangyidaunt (ကန်ကြီးတောင့်မြို့နယ်) Township, Pathein District, and Ayeyarwaddy Division. Athoke substation is located in Athoke Township and Yae-Kyi Township, Pathein District, and Ayeyarwaddy Division. Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group Co., LTD (YEIG) was the contractor responsible for implementation of the project. According to the MOEE, the project commenced in 2013 and was completed on November 1, 2015. There are some indications that the CDB loan for the Athoke-Pathein Transmission Line and Substation Project may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. In 2020, CDB and the Government of Myanmar signed a debt suspension agreement as part of the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). Under the terms of the agreement, the lender agreed to suspend principal and interest payments due between May 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 under 5 loan agreements (as captured via Record ID#98030). Debt service payments under these loan agreements were again deferred in 2021 (as captured via Record ID#98031).
Staff comments
1. The current loan commitment year (2013) is an estimate based on the first year of project implementation. 2. The CDB loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 3. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average grace period of all ‘private’ sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 5 years in 2013. AidData estimates the grace period of the CDB loan by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yeycsft350zusyd8arqbt/Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Myanmar-November-2023-DRS-Extraction.xlsx?rlkey=1r1adrvvi4kj9jj8wxkxtnml5&dl=0 4. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average maturity of all ‘private’ sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 20.1168 years in 2013. AidData estimates the maturity of the CDB loan by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yeycsft350zusyd8arqbt/Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Myanmar-November-2023-DRS-Extraction.xlsx?rlkey=1r1adrvvi4kj9jj8wxkxtnml5&dl=0 5 According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average interest rate of all ‘private’ sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 4.9334 years in 2013. AidData estimates the interest rate of the CDB loan by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yeycsft350zusyd8arqbt/Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Myanmar-November-2023-DRS-Extraction.xlsx?rlkey=1r1adrvvi4kj9jj8wxkxtnml5&dl=0