Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On December 21, 2003, the Chinese Government and the Government of Yemen signed an RMB 20 million ($2,409,638) interest-free loan agreement for the Highway Construction and Paving Equipment Project. Then, on October 19, 2004, Yemen’s Parliament signed the loan agreement into law (Law No. 25 of 2004). The borrower used the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial contract between the Government of Yemen’s Ministry of Public Works and Highways and Tianjin Machinery Import and Export Co. (天津机械进出口有限公司), which was signed on November 12, 2003. The purpose of the project was to finance the acquisition of highway construction and asphalting equipment for use in the capital city of Sana'a. China’s Ministry of Commerce, which provided the loan, identifies this project as having reached completion in one of its annual yearbooks. The Tianjin Machinery Import and Export Co. also provided photographic evidence of project implementation. However, the precise completion date of this project is unknown.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 筑路设备和材料项目 or 提供筑路设备和零配件 or 提供筑路设 or 援也门施工机械项目. The Arabic project title is لتمويل شراء وحدة شق وسفلته لأمانةالعاصمة. 2. One MOFCOM source identifies the date of the signing of the loan agreement as November 12, 2003. This issue merits further investigation. 3. Since the borrowing terms of the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set the maturity 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 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.