Chinese Government provides RMB 222 million grant for Phase 3 of Social Housing Project

Project narrative

On February 4, 2021, the Chinese Government and the Government of Belarus signed letters of exchange, which allocated RMB 222 million of grant funding for Phase 3 of the Social Housing Project. These funds were drawn at least in part from an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) that the Chinese Government and the Government of Belarus signed on September 29, 2016 (as captured via Record ID#88735), which committed RMB 700 million of grant funding for Phases 1-3 of the Social Housing Project in Belarus. The agreement initially earmarked RMB 329.38 million for Phase 1 (captured via Record ID#66303), RMB 349.09 million for Phase 2 (captured via Record ID#66492), and the remaining RMB 32.2 million for Phase 3. However, it appears that Phase 3 was subsequently rescoped and/or recosted and supported with supplemental grant funding. The purpose of Phase 3 is to construct apartment buildings in Brest Oblast (108 apartments in the town of Baranavichy and 90 apartments in the town of Stolin) and Gomel Region (40 apartments in city of Buda-Kashalyova on Sovkhoznaya street, 40 apartments in city of Dobrush on Field street, 40 apartments in city of Petrikov on Bumazhkov street, 40 apartments in city of Khoiniki on Zhukov street, and 40 apartments in city of Rogachev on Bogatyrev street). In total, Phase 3 is expected to result in the construction of 1166 social housing units with a total area of 66,061 m². China Railway No 9 Group Co Ltd is the general contractor responsible for implementation and it has reportedly hired a Belarussian state-owned company called Brestzhilstroy Municipal Unitary Enterprise (or КУП «Брестжилстрой») as a subcontractor. Construction was originally scheduled to take place in early 2020. Official sources indicate that this project has entered implementation. However, AidData has not yet identified a precise project implementation start date.