Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million interest-free loan for China-Yemen Friendship Hospital Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#65175)

On April 6, 2006, the Chinese Government and the Yemeni Government signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed an RMB 40 million interest-free loan (captured in Project ID#65175) for the China-Yemen Friendship Hospital Construction Project. Then, on December 18, 2009, the Chinese Government and the Yemeni Government signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed an RMB 50 million interest-free loan (captured in Project ID#65174) for the China-Yemen Friendship Hospital Construction Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued both of these loans and they were approved by the Yemeni Cabinet in July 2010 and passed into law by the Yemeni Parliament in August 2010 (Law No. 9 of 2010 and Law No. 10 of 2010). The proceeds of the loans were used to finance a project implementation contract that was signed with Nantong Sanjian Holdings (Group) Co., Ltd. (or 江苏南通三建集团有限公司 or 南通三建) on March 9, 2010. The purpose of this project was to construct the 120-bed China-Yemen Friendship Hospital (or 48 Model Hospital) in the capital city of Sana'a. The project commenced on June 17, 2010 and passed a mid-term MOFCOM acceptance on March 20, 2011. The originally expected duration of project implementation was 26 months. However, during construction, war broke out in Yemen and the project was forced to shut down on May 29, 2011. 106 Chinese contractors (members of the project team) were evacuated on May 31, 2011. Then, on June 1, 2012, MOFCOM approved the resumption of project implementation. The project was completed and handed over to the local authorities on June 19, 2013. A formal handover certificate was issued on May 20, 2014. An opening ceremony took place on the same day.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the 48 Model Hospital Construction Project, the Hospital 48 Construction Project, and the Sino-Yemeni Friendship Hospital Project. The Chinese project title is 也门援建的也中友谊医院 or 的也中友好医院项目. The Arabic project title is مشروع مستشفى 48 or مستشفى 48 النموذجي or مستشفى 48 الطبي or مستشفى الصداقة اليمني الصيني or مبنى مستشفى الصداقة اليمني الصيني. 2. Some sources put the total cost of the project at RMB 64 million. Others put it at RMB 66.3892 million. Still others estimate that the total cost of the project was between $12 million and $15 million. AidData considers the total funding commitment to be RMB 90 million, as captured by the two interest-free loans (worth RMB 50 million and RMB 40 million) that supported this project. 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.

Number of official sources

14

Number of total sources

26