Chinese Government provides EUR 148.37 million loan for Chamshir Irrigation and Drainage Network Project (Linked to Record ID#66039)

Project narrative

In December 2012, Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO) — an Iranian state-owned enterprise — and China Energy Engineering Corporation Corporation Limited (CEEC) signed an EPC plus Financing (EPC+F) contractual arrangement (worth RMB 1,137,500,000) for the Chamshir Irrigation and Drainage Network Project. A foreign loan worth EUR 230 million (including EUR 148.37 million from an unidentified Chinese state-owned bank institution) was issued in order to finance the EPC contract. Under most EPC+F contractual arrangements in Iran, a loan is extended to the EPC contractor but with a sovereign guarantee from the Iranian Government. The purpose of this project was to construct a diversion-regulating dam, tunnel, pipeline systems, hydroelectric power plant and irrigation-drainage canals. The project site was located 70 km downstream of the Chamshir dam and 130MW power plant, over the Zohreh River and before the confluence of the Zohreh and Kheirabad Rivers in Khuzestan Province. The ultimate purpose of the project was to irrigate 36,000 hectares of land. The dam will transmit water to the lands of Deilam and Ganaveh in Bushehr Province by means of tunnels, pipelines, and irrigation and drainage canals. A formal groundbreaking ceremony for this project took place on or around May 9, 2013. However, the precise implementation end date of this project is unknown. It is known that the project was completed in 2016. A separate EUR 229 million Chinese Government loan (captured in Record ID#66039) was issued for the 130MW Chamshir Hydroelectric Dam and Power Plant Construction Project.