[Cancelled] China Eximbank provides $186.4 million buyer’s credit loan for Soda Ash Factory Project (Linked to Project ID#42199)

On September 18, 2011, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Government of Belarus signed a $186,494,760 million buyer’s credit loan for a Soda Ash Factory Project. The loan was approved under a $5.7 billion framework agreement (captured in Project ID#42199). The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that the Government of Belarus issued a sovereign guarantee in support of the loan — through a Council of Ministers decree (No. 290) that was issued on March 30, 2012. This project did not enter implementation in 2011 or 2012 due to the fact that the borrower did not meet several ‘conditions precedent’. It was originally envisaged that the proceeds of the loan would be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract with China National Chemical Engineering Co Ltd (CNCEC) and China Tianchen Engineering Corp. (TCC). Then, On July 22, 2013, the Government of Belarus and the Chinese Government announced that they had reached an agreement to create a joint venture to implement the project. They also announced that they had issued a tender to two Chinese companies — CITIC Construction Co., Ltd. and China National Chemical Engineering Co Ltd — and the winning bidder would gain the right to be a shareholder in the project and a co-investor. The purpose of the project was to construct a sodium carbonate (soda ash) plant in in Mozyr District within the Gomel Region. Upon completion, it was envisaged that the plant would have the capacity to produce 280,000 tons of soda ash per year. However, there is no evidence that the China Eximbank loan for this project ever disbursed. Nor is there any evidence that the project ever entered implementation. On January 12, 2017, the Government of Belarus announced that it would terminate the loan agreement.

Additional details

The Russian project title is строительства завода по производству кальцинированной соды в Мозырском районе Гомельской области or проекта "Строительство завода по производству кальцинированной соды мощностью 300 тыс. тонн в год в Мозырском районе Гомельской области. The Chinese project title is 中白将合作实施纯碱生产厂建设项目. Some sources suggest that the face value of the loan was $219 million, while others suggest that it was $186.5 million.

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

17