ICBC provides $81.4 million loan for Manquete Agro-Livestock Development Project (Linked to Record ID#43785)

Project narrative

On July 21, 2013, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Government of Angola signed a $69,223,552 loan agreement for the Manquete Agro-Livestock Development Project in Cunene Province. Then, in December 2013, the President of Angola authorized the Government of Angola to sign an $81,439,473.31 loan agreement with ICBC for the Manquete Agro-Livestock Development Project in Cunene Province. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that the borrower was expected to use the loan proceeds to finance a $100 million commercial contract with China National Electronics Import & Export Corporation (CEIEC), which was signed in 2011. The project supported the construction of a agro-industrial complex on 2,000 hectares of land within Cunene Province. 1,500 hectares were set aside for rice and maize cultivation and the remaining 500 hectares for construction of infrastructure and natural reserves. The complex included two units for processing and husking, cleaning, bleaching of packaging and equipment, and three silos for storage (two of them for 3,000 tons of rice and one for 2,000 tons of corn). The Sovereign Fund of Angola (FSDEA) — a fund created by the Angolan Government with revenues from oil exports — initially owned the agro-industrial complex and the land on which it sits, but China National Electronics Import & Export Corporation (CEIEC) operated the complex for its first five years of operation. The first three years of the contract period were used to clear land, build infrastructure, and conduct plant experimentation; subsequently, the final two years of the contract were used to train Angolan farmers in technology and land management. The overall objective of the project was to promote rice production in the country and reduce cereal imports. Project implementation commenced and the agro-industrial complex generated its first harvest in 2015. However, the project was at a ‘standstill’ in May 2017 after CEIEC reportedly abandoned the project. Then, in October 2018, Angolan President João Lourenço ordered that the project be ‘rescued’ from the FSDEA and handed over to the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) for public interest reasons.